A Person Who Has Made A difference: Dean Kamen

INTRODUCTION

    Throughout history, there have been people who have influenced the way we live. Dean Kamen is one of these people.

I chose to prepare this research on Dean Kamen for several reasons. To begin with, my life has been influenced by him since  grade. In other words, if he hadn’t founded “FIRST”, I wouldn’t have learnt many values which have made me a better person. Moreover, he tries to educate our society by helping the needy and volunteering. Last but not least, my teacher told us to do the project on a Jewish person who has influenced the way we live.

There are a number of things that I already know about Dean Kamen. Firstly, I know that Dean Kamen is a Jewish engineer. In addition, I know that the Segway was invented by him.

Lastly, I know that he and Woodie Flowers founded the non-profit organization “FIRST”.

I expect to learn new and interesting things about Dean Kamen. First and foremost, I expect to find out what inspired him to start the organization “FIRST”. Also, I want to learn why he became an engineer. Finally, I would like to discover, why he makes such a big effort to educate our society on the importance of helping and volunteering.

Dean Kamen has left his mark on the world. I am looking forward to finding out more about him.

BIOGRAPHY

Dean Kamen was born on April 5th, 1951, in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York. His father’s name is Jack and his mother’s name is Evelyn. His father is an illustrator for comic books and his mother is a teacher.  He has an older brother Bart Kamen who was a doctor and died in 2012. He also has a younger brother, Mitch and a younger sister, Terri, who are twins. Mitch is a musician and Terri works in an insurance company.  Dean never married and never had children. He didn’t really pay attention to his personal life.

As a child, he didn’t succeed in school, although he was very smart. He claims that when he was five years old, he invented a way to make his bed without running from one side to the other.

As a teenager he was paid by local bands and museums for light and sound systems. He was paid $60,000 for work on the giant ball that is lowered in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

This amount was more than his parents combined income.  Kamen went to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts.This is where he invented his first innovation, the Auto Syringe. His brother who was a doctor told him about patients that needed round the clock medicines. So, they had to go to the hospital just to get the medication. His device could be worn by patients and would give them the proper amount of medicine they needed, so they wouldn’t have to go to the hospital.This invention led to his next invention, which was the portable kidney dialysis machine, which earned him Design News’ award for “Medical Product of the Year” in 1993.

This allowed people who needed dialysis to have more freedom and a better quality of life.

This was life changing for many people.

He formed a company called DEKA in 1982 and he is the president of the company.

One of the company’s invention was the IBOT Mobility System. This is a wheelchair that is battery operated and allows users to climb stairs and deal with many other obstacles. These wheelchairs allowed the person to almost stand so that handicapped people can talk to people at eye level. This was very important because people who sat in wheelchairs usually felt they did not have as much power as people who could stand up.This was a way to make things a little more even.

In 2001, DEKA came out with the Segway Human Transporter. The Segway is an electric powered personal transportation machine that people stand on and by using their body weight that is how the Segway moves.

The idea behind this invention was to help reduce the number of cars and the air pollution in big cities. Although he thought it would make big changes it was not verysuccessful.

Education for young people is very important to Kamen. His passion for science and technology was so big that he felt he must pass it on to young people.

This passion motivated him to start many organizations for students. In 1986, he founded Science Enrichment Encounters, which is an interactive learning center in Manchester. Over 40,00 people visit this interesting and exciting place every year.

In 1989, he established FIRST (“For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”), which is an organization for robotic competitions. This is an annual competition where high school teams, with the help of corporate sponsors, build robots and compete against each other in national and world competitions. The goal of FIRST is to get young people excited about technology and motivate them to go into the fields of science, technology and engineering.

Kamen, has been given many awards for his work, including the Kilby Award in 1994, the Hoover Medal in 1995. He was not an engineer, but he received an honorary “Doctor of Engineering” degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute May 17, 1996. This was a way to show that the engineering community was grateful for all his inventions.

He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997 for his biomedical devices and for making engineering more popular among high school students. Then in 1998 he was given the Heinz Award in Technology, and the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002. President Clinton gave him the National Medal of Technology in 2000. Kamen was added to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005 which is a very big honor.

Today, Dean Kaman is still working as the CEO for his private company which continues to develop new inventions.

He also continues as the CEO of the FIRST organization, which continues to have robotics competitions all over the world.

In addition, he is now trying to help underdeveloped nations get clean water. He is trying to develop a new way to purify water.  Since he has had so many ideas and successful projects throughout his life, he hopes this will help to make this new project successful. Clean water is problem for so many countries today and the future does not look much better which is why he is getting involved in this project. This will probably affect many nations.

MY FIGURE’S INFLUENCE ON ME

Dean Kamen’s foundation, “FIRST” has had an influence on me in a number of ways. To begin with, by taking part in FIRST I learnt how to work in a team. Before I joined FIRST, I had preferred to do school’s projects alone. Now, most of the time I prefer to do projects with a friend and consider all the other team member’s ideas. In addition, I was inspired by FIRST to study science and engineering at school and at the university. Last but not least, at FIRST I met many friends, whom I wouldn’t have met somewhere else. By founding FIRST, Dean Kamen has been influenced me and changed my life to a better one.

INTERVIEW

I chose to interview Bosmat Shalom Tuchin. She is the CEO of FIRST Israel.

I chose to interview Bosmat Shalom Tuchin because she works at FIRST, meets Dean Kamen every year and works with Dean Kamen.

Q: How would you see the world today without FIRST?

A: A sad world. For me FIRST is the chance to change this complicated world including all the politics. We hope that teenagers who take part in FIRST will do what we couldn’t do, become leaders full of compassion and with technological skills of the  century. I am sure that all of this will create a better life for this world. I am very glad that FIRST has been created.

Q: Can you please tell me when and how you heard of FIRST?

A: Sure! I heard of FIRST just two years ago, when they were

looking for a CEO and I was considered for the position. Before the interview I went to watch an FLL competition in Tel Aviv and it was so exciting.

Q: Why do you think that Dean Kamen founded FIRST?

A: From the stories that I have heard I believe that Dean Kamen understands that this is the best way to make children excited about science and technology like they are excited about sport and robots.

Q: As the CEO of FIRST Israel, how did the organization influence you?

A: FIRST influences me every day even while I am speaking to you, I have just returned home from an appointment with a manager of the education department and she told me about a child whose life had changed thanks to FIRST. Every day I wake up in the morning with a mission. FIRST also influences my

children, my oldest child is taking part in a team. That’s an adorable way to teach him so many values that will help him so much in the future. He also meets many friends in FIRST.  For me FIRST isn’t just work it’s a part of my life and it has also taught me that everything is possible.

Q: You have met Dean, haven’t you?

A: Of course, I meet him every year at the world championship in the USA. Dean is a Jew, that’s why he has warm place in his heart for the Israeli teams. Dean is involved in daily operations in Israel. I don’t make a daily call to him, but not long ago we sent an Israeli team to FIRST Global competition in Dubai. A week before the flight there was a huge complexity because we don’t have diplomatic relations with Dubai. Because of that Dean and I talked everyday that week. While all the world was getting ready for the competition in Dubai, Dean was engaging

in how to bring the Israeli team to the competition. That was very impressive. He doesn’t know what the meaning of no is. I have never seen such a motivated person like him!

Q: So, I understand that you are inspired by him. Am I right?

A: Yes! He is an inspiring person. I heard all his inspiring speeches about inserting science and technology into teenagers’ lives and I can tell you from experience that he doesn’t only talk, he actually does. There is no doubt that I admire him!

Q: Do the core values of FIRST connect to your life? How?

A: I think so, I am trying to be a cooperative manager. I give authority to my staff and I work with my staff in cooperation.

I believe that I am important but, if I am not at a competition,the competition wouldn’t be cancelled.However, if the volunteers or the team members don’t come, the

competition will absolutely be cancelled.I think that cooperation is the most important core value that the team members are taught by FIRST.

For example, if we needed to solve some ecological problems we should work together.I believe in the huge importance of the core values and the contribution of Dean Kamen to youth and to the society.

Q: Do you think that Dean Kamen succeeded in making a significant effect on teenagers’ lives?

A: Absolutely yes! We know that from a lot of examples such as autistic continuum children that didn’t leave the house and thanks to FIRST they became friendlier and it saved their lives. We also know about Bedouin and Arabic girls that were quiet and in FIRST they became captains and leaders.

There are also gifted teenagers that don’t want to go to school and FIRST is the thing that makes them go to school. These are only cases in Israel, so there isn’t a doubt that FIRST changes people’s lives.

Q: Do you have other important things that you know and want to tell me about Dean Kamen?

A: I am not sure, but I think that I heard something about Dean having dyslexia, and I think that because of that he became an entrepreneur. It also gives inspiration to children who have difficulties in school or have a disability. It shows that sometimes a person can be different from society, but it doesn’t mean he can’t do things or make changes in the world. Dean also invented many patents and got many prizes for his inventions.

PRESENTATION

On 31.12.2019, I made a presentation in front of my classmates and teacher on Dean Kamen.

There are number of things I wanted to achieve by making my presentation in this way. To begin with, I wanted to tell my class about a man that I admire. Moreover, I chose this format because I thought it would be exciting for my classmates.

In order to prepare this presentation, I followed a number of steps. First, I researched him. Then I organized the information by dates. Next, I made a timeline according to my research.

The presentation in class was done in the following way. I presented all the information with PowerPoint. Then I did a group activity to keep my classmates in interested.

Immediately after the presentation, I received feedback from my teacher and peers.

Shir said:” I really liked your presentation, I have already known things about Dean Kamen because I was a team member in FLL and FRC group. The presentation was very interesting. I really liked the artistic activity”.
Gil: ” I also liked the presentation and the explanation. The artistic part was very creativity and exciting”.
May: “I really liked the presentation. I learnt a lot of new things about Dean. The activity brings memory from the FLL core values judging room”.
Adi: ” I liked that the presentation wasn’t to detailed. I understood everything”.

Nevo:” It was really nice presentation. The activity was very fun”.
Miriam:” It was good! I liked the clip, the activity and the presentation”.

I learnt several things about Dean Kamen while doing this section. I learnt that Dean Kamen never finished university. He never married and never had children. I also learnt that he invented the IBot.

Looking back on my presentation, there is one thing that I could have been done differently. I could have chosen fewer facts about Dean Kamen, so that I could explain each one in more detail each one.

In conclusion, I learnt how to summarize a lot of information, so that I could present it in friendly way.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• https://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Kamen-Dean.html#ixzz61aVHa75r.
• https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/dean-kamen
• https://www.famous-entrepreneurs.com/dean-kamen
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kamen
• Bosmat Shalom Tuchin, the CEO of FIRST Israel.