Dean Kamen to Receive Stevens Honor Award at EAS Society Gala, Nov. 6

Kamen will address students and faculty earlier that day as part of the Heath
Lecture Series

HOBOKEN, N.J., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Edwin A. Stevens Society
of Stevens Institute of Technology will this year honor prolific inventor and
entrepreneur Dean Kamen with the Stevens Honor Award. Kamen will receive the
award on November 6 at the annual Edwin A. Stevens Society Gala, to be held at
the Liberty Science Center at 7 p.m. Attendance at the event is by invitation
only.

Earlier that day, he will address students and faculty on campus as part of
the Heath Lecture Series at 5 p.m. in the Babbio Center. His speech will focus
on FIRST and, as he put it, "the power of technology and what it can and
should do."

First bestowed in 1945, the Stevens Honor Award was designed to honor "notable
achievement in any field of endeavor." Kamen joins a long and diverse list of
distinguished recipients, including artist Alexander Calder, '19, futurist and
inventor R. Buckminster Fuller and Charles Stewart Mott, 1897, the
industrialist and philanthropist.

As an inventor and physicist, Kamen has dedicated his life to developing
technologies that help people lead better lives. As an inventor, he holds more
than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices
that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a
college undergraduate, he invented the automatic, self-contained, ambulatory
pump designed to deliver precise doses of medication to patients with a
variety of medical conditions. In 1976 he founded AutoSyringe, Inc., to
manufacture and market the pumps. At age 30, he sold that company to Baxter
International Corporation. By then, he had added a number of other infusion
devices, including the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics. Following
the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corp. to
develop internally generated inventions as well as to provide R&D for major
corporate clients.

The array of products and technologies invented and developed by Kamen and the
engineering team at DEKA is extremely broad. Two notable breakthrough medical
devices invented and developed by DEKA are the HomeChoiceT portable dialysis
machine, marketed by Baxter Healthcare, and the iBOTT Mobility System, a
sophisticated mobility aid developed for Johnson & Johnson. With the SegwayT
Human Transporter, Kamen aspired to improve upon the most basic form of
transportation, walking, by allowing people to go farther, move more quickly,
and carry more without separating them from their everyday walking
environment. DEKA's other projects include: a DARPA-funded robotic arm project
intended to restore functionality for individuals with upper extremity
amputations; a new and improved Stirling engine intended to convert almost any
fuel into electrical power and clean heat as part of a system that is clean,
quiet, easy to use, and easy to maintain with a long operating life; new water
purification technology intended to convert almost any source water into safe
drinking water; and many others.

Among Kamen's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to
motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and
technology. In 2009, its flagship program, the FIRST Robotics Competition,
will reach more than 42,000 high-school students on close to 1,700 teams in 40
regional competitions, seven district competitions, and one national
championship. The FIRST Robotics Competition teams professionals and young
people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive
way. In 1998, the FIRST LEGO League was created for children ages 9-14.
Similar to the FIRST Robotics Competition, these young participants build a
robot and compete in a friendly event designed for their age group. In the
2008/09 season, over 137,000 children are participating in 42 countries. FIRST
also offers the Junior FIRST LEGO League for 6- to 9-year-olds and the FIRST
Tech Challenge, which provides high-school-aged students with the traditional
challenge of the FIRST Robotics Competition, but with a more accessible and
affordable robotics kit.

Kamen has received numerous awards and accolades including the Heinz Award in
Technology, the Economy and Employment in 1998, the National Medal of
Technology from President Clinton in 2000, the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002 for
Invention and Innovation, the United Nations Association of the USA Global
Humanitarian Action Award in 2006 and honorary degrees from more than 25
colleges and universities. Kamen was inducted into The National Inventors Hall
of Fame in May 2005.

About the Edwin A. Stevens Society

Edwin A. Stevens (1795-1869) and his family, well known philanthropists and
visionaries of their time, showed their civic responsibility and inventiveness
in many ways. They made their most enduring contribution by establishing
Stevens Institute of Technology with an initial gift of land and funds to
start the school.

Honoring the spirit of this generous contribution, graduates of Stevens
established the Edwin A. Stevens Society. Members of the society work to
provide a solid foundation of financial support for Stevens.

By investing in future generations of Stevens graduates, contributors affirm
their deep commitment to providing quality education in engineering,
technology and the sciences. Members of the Edwin A. Stevens Society know that
Stevens graduates continue to assume key leadership roles in industry,
strengthening our nation and our world.

Edwin A. Stevens Society members - a strong network of industry leaders,
inventors, businessmen and women, entrepreneurs and educators - believe in
making solid investments in Stevens for its future.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading
technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research.
Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and
cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global
challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships
and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other
universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new
model for technology commercialization in academe, known as TechnogenesisR,
involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad
opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master's and doctoral degrees in engineering,
science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate
degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The
university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate
students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens' graduate programs have
attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia,
Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web
page at www.stevens.edu.

For the latest news about Stevens, please visit StevensNewsService.com.

SOURCE Stevens Institute of Technology

Stephanie Mannino, Assistant Director, University Communications, Stevens
Institute of Technology, +1-201-216-5602, smannino@stevens.edu