Inventor inspires on International Women's Day

While walking through streets in Haiti that had been devastated by the 2010 earthquake, Min Soo Chun, then a Professor in Architecture and Material Technology at Columbia University, saw the need for solar-powered lanterns that would help families and children and that, unlike kerosene heaters, would not emit toxic fumes.

Her idea grew into Solar Puffs, collapsible lights that have been distributed to earthquake victims in Nepal, hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and Dominica, refugees in Syria and on the Colombian border, and disaster victims in other nations. Awarded the U.S. Patent Award for Humanity, she has seen her work exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

She came to RE at the behest of the student group Women's Empowered, whose student leaders – vice president Sofia Gudino Ruffa '23 and secretary Rebecca Gotterer '22 – introduced her and shared information about International Women's Day and Women's History Month. Min Soo Chun rued the fact that women hold only three percent of the patents listed by the U.S. Patent Office. She tried to reframe the concept of invention, telling students it wasn’t about access to high-tech tools.

“Technology isn’t about circuitry and software or the internet,” Min Soo Chun said. “It’s really about the art, the poetics of making.”

Her biggest emphasis as she spoke to upper schoolers was making sure they understood that they, too, could better the world. She explained that she was inspired to develop reproducible products that reduced pollution when she learned her son, Quinn, had asthma. “There’s a saying: ‘a worried mom does better research than the FBI,’” she said. 

“You are fierce and strong and full of fire, and not even you can hold yourself back,” she said. “Your passion burns brighter than your fears.”

Her latest invention is the SEEUS95 mask, which is biodegradable, transparent and self-adhering. She said the mask required 256 prototypes, 80 of which she fashioned in her kitchen during lockdown. Her kitchen, she explained, “looked like a meth lab." The effort was worth it. The mask will be available soon.

 “I’m just a poor Korean girl that had the privilege of having a great education. If I can do it, anyone can do it,” she said. “The sun is the most powerful source of energy that comes to the earth every day. But the light of your imagination is more powerful than the sun.”