title: Andrew Heafitz
text: # Andrew Heafitz
  
  Andrew Heafitz is an American inventor. He is the VP of product development at Terrafugia, a company developing a flying car.
  
  ## Early life and education
  
  Heaftiz grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and attended Newton South High School. He was awarded his first patent when he was 19 for a camera shutter. He was the founder of TacShot, a rocket-propelled camera capable of being quickly launched and deployed to photograph an area from overhead.
  
  Heafitz holds a SB and MS (2000) from MIT.
  
  ## Awards and honors
  
  In 2003, he was recognized on the MIT Technology Review's TR100 list.
  
  He received the MIT Lemelson Student Inventor prize in 2002.
  
  