The moment was so New Jersey, so we-were-Silicon-Valley-before-there-was-a-Silicon-Valley, so fitting of the theme of Thursday night’s 45th annual Edison Patent Awards sponsored by the R&D Council of New Jersey: Jersey Innovates, the World Takes.
Princeton University was being recognized with the Computer Technology award for a patent involving in-memory computing – an invention that brings together two key aspects of the process that previously had been separated (“where we store data that we’re going to be processing on from where we actually process the data,” they explained).
Don’t fully understand? Know this: It’s an invention that will be key in AI programming.
It’s an invention that Princeton professor Naveen Verma told the crowd at Bell Works in Holmdel that shows why New Jersey’s place in the innovation ecosystem is just as strong as it was in the days of Thomas Edison — and will continue to shine moving forward.
After thanking his colleagues and students at Princeton, Verma gave thanks to the spirit of the state.
He’s not a native by any stretch (he did his undergrade work in British Colombia), but Verma said he has seen in his 15 years at Princeton the power of the region — one he said can top the West Coast.
“There really is a transformation happening (here), especially as the challenges and problems that we face in society have become harder and harder,” he said. “(There is) a spirit to be able to take those on because they’re hard problems. I think it’s characterizing something that’s happening on the entire East Coast. And that’s great for us in New Jersey, to be able to work with our colleagues in states that surround us.
“But when you mix that spirit together with something that is really uniquely New Jersey, a level of grit, then I think you get really interesting invention. And so, it’s inspiring to be here with you. It’s inspiring to be here in New Jersey — to have all of that that come together.”
Verma summed up the essence of the most laudatory night in STEM in New Jersey all year.
Yes, there was talk about the state’s fabulous history, Edison and Einstein, transistors and the light bulb — and, of course, Bell Labs. But more importantly it was about the here and now, as the audience heard about all the latest breakthroughs, inventions that ran from fluoride to fusion, mechanical science to computer science, animals to AI.
The R&D Council honored 66 inventors who combined to work on 14 key patents. It also honored five key individuals who do so much to support the STEM ecosystem, including:
Visionary Award: Chris Paladino, the president of DEVCO, the chief developer of the HELIX in New Brunswick – for his assistance in building centers of innovation throughout the state;
Emerging Tech Award: Dr. Olivier Loudig, of Hackensack Meridian Health’s Center for Discovery and Innovation – for his groundbreaking work in cancer research;
Educator of Year Award: Tony Lowan, provost of Rowan University, for helping school become a model for STEM research and programs;
Catalyst Award: Judith Sheft, executive director of the N.J. Commission of Science, Innovation and Technology for its working in supporting the startup innovation community.
The top award of the night went to Brian Kernighan, who received the Science and Technology Medal.
Kernighan, a professor at Princeton since 2000 after a distinguished three-decade career at Bell Labs, is a co-creator of several programming languages, including AWK and AMPL. He holds five patents but may be best known for co-authoring the C programming language with Dennis Ritchie, a foundational text that has taught generations of programmers the art of coding in C, which has become a cornerstone of modern software development.
By any metric, he is a living legend in computer science – yet he remains someone who was able to humbly suggest he had a case of ‘imposter syndrome’ to be receiving such a prestigious honor.
Kernighan quickly turned the moment to the innovation ecosystem that is the state.
“I’ve been enormously lucky in my career, spending it in two absolutely wonderful places, at Bell Labs … and Princeton,” he said.
“Those are very different institutions, but they share a number of things. And I think the thing that they share that is in some ways most important, is at each one, there’s just an astonishing group of interesting, talented, bright, innovative, creative people who are technically unbelievably capable, but at the same time, are just wonderful human beings – people who will help you, support you, contribute to what you’re doing and help make you a success.
“So, I’m honored by the award tonight, but it really is because of the company I’ve kept for the last 55 or 60 years at these two amazing institutions. So, it’s hard to express my gratitude adequately to all of the people who have helped me along the way.”
All of whom are helping make New Jersey what it is today.
A look at the patent honorees: The following companies, universities and organizations were honored (listed alphabetically):
- BASF
- Bristol Myers Squibb
- Colgate-Palmolive
- DEVCO
- ExxonMobil
- HMH-Center for Discovery and Innovation
- Merck
- N.J. Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology
- Nokia Bell Labs
- Princeton University
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
- Qualcomm
- Rowan University
- Rutgers University
- Siemens
- U.S. Army
