The WPI Presidential Medal

Inaugural Presentation to Dean Kamen '73,
President and Owner, DEKA Research and Development Corp.
March 30, 2001

Immediately following his keynote address to the 14th Annual Professional Conference of the National Consortium for Specialized Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology
Campus Center, Odeum
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Presented by Edward Alton Parrish, President, WPI

Please join us for a dessert reception following the medal presentation.

About the Recipient: WPI is pleased to present the first WPI Presidential Medal to Dean Kamen in recognition of his visionary contributions to society, engineering, science and education. A renowned inventor, he founded AutoSyringe Inc., which made the world's first portable drug infusion pump (his earliest patent), while he was still a student at WPI. Today, he oversees DEKA in Manchester, N.H., which specializes in advanced medical technologies, including the IBOT, a revolutionary, stair-climbing wheelchair. He is the founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the way American youth views science and technology. Kamen has received numerous awards and honors, including, most recently, the National Medal of Technology. He received an honorary doctorate in engineering from WPI in 1992.

About the Medal: The WPI Presidential Medal was established in 2001 to recognize individuals who represent the ideal of the "technological humanist," a notion that has been at the heart of WPI's approach to education since its founding in 1865. Balancing theoretical studies with practical application, WPI prepares its students to take the knowledge they learn in the classroom and use it, not only to advance the frontiers of science and technology, but to serve the greater public good. This award was established to recognize outstanding individuals from all walks of life who, through their professional or personal accomplishments, exemplify the ideal of the technological humanist.

About WPI: Founded in 1865, WPI was a pioneer in technological higher education. Early on, it developed an influential curriculum that balanced theory and practice. Since 1970, that philosophy has been embodied in the WPI Plan, the university's innovative outcomes-oriented undergraduate program. With a network of project centers that spans the globe, WPI is also the leader in globalizing technological higher education. About 60 percent of its undergraduates travel off campus during their junior or senior year to complete professional level projects with international corporations and organizations, gaining an invaluable global perspective. WPI awarded its first advanced degree in 1898. Today, most of WPI's academic departments offer master's and doctoral programs-in Worcester and at two branch campuses-and support leading edge research in a broad range of areas.