The MIT Club of Princeton and the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University Invite You to Invent Like Edison

Great Grandniece of Thomas Edison, Author Sarah Miller Caldicott, and Edison Historian Paul Israel to be featured speakers at INVENT LIKE EDISON on May 15, 2008.

New Brunswick, NJ (PRWEB) April 29, 2008 -- The MIT Club of Princeton, the alumni association of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in central New Jersey and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and the Thomas Edison Papers Project at Rutgers University today announced they will jointly host a talk by the great grand niece of Thomas Edison, Sarah Caldicott. Invent Like Edison aims to encourage high school students to pursue careers in math, science and technology by highlighting the pivotal role of science and math in invention and innovation.

The free event will be held at 6pm on Thursday May 15, 2008 at the Allison Road Classroom (ARC) Auditorium at Rutgers University - Busch Campus, 618 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ.

High school students with an interest in math, science and technology, MIT Alumnae, the Rutgers community, innovators (and budding innovators) and Edison enthusiasts are invited to participate in the event.

Edison filed the first of his 1,093 successful U.S. patent applications on October 13, 1868 at the age of 21 and is credited with one of the greatest advancements of the nineteenth century - the method of invention known as Research and Development. Corporate R&D centers still leverage many of the principles that Edison developed in his Menlo Park lab.

Sarah Miller Caldicott, a great grand niece of Thomas Edison, will discuss the Five Competencies of Innovation that Edison used to become the most prolific inventor in American history. For her latest book, Innovate Like Edison, Sarah conducted her research and worked with the world's leading Edison historian, Dr. Paul Israel. Dr. Israel, Director of The Edison Papers at Rutgers University, will appear with Sarah and discuss why Edison succeeded.

Both authors will be available to sign their books before and after the address. Seating is limited. To register for this free event, please visit the website of the MIT Club of Princeton at http://alumweb.mit.edu/clubs/princeton/. Online directions to ARC can be found at http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?id=416.

INVENT LIKE EDISON is part of an initiative launched by the MIT Club of Princeton to encourage more high school students to consider college-level education in math, science and technology. By studying the successes of New Jersey's most famous inventor, students will learn how Edison used knowledge to drive highly productive invention. Ram Iyer, President of MIT Club of Princeton said, "Success leaves clues. We hope that students will be inspired to pursue college level education in science and math, and keep our country at the forefront of leveraging technology for competitive advantage and to improve humankind." To find out more about the various initiatives of the MIT Club of Princeton, including the Science & Math initiative and the MIT SEPT program, where local high school teachers spend a week at MIT each summer, please visit http://alumweb.mit.edu/clubs/princeton/.

Sarah Miller Caldicott is a great grand niece of Thomas Edison and a 20-year veteran of PepsiCo and Unilever. Her new book, Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America's Greatest Inventor was written in collaboration with Michael J. Gelb, best-selling author of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. Innovate Like Edison is the first book to identify Edison's systematic approach to innovation, revealing what Caldicott calls "Edison's Five Competencies of Innovation"TM. Caldicott's research drew on resources developed by the Edison Papers.

Dr. Paul Israel is Director of the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University. The Project has spent years analyzing over five million pages of notebooks, business and personal correspondence that Edison generated during his lifetime to gain better insight into one of the greatest human minds. Israel's biography of the inventor, Edison, A Life of Invention, has won acclaim and is a primary source for any serious research on the life of Edison. Israel, in addition to teaching, can be seen in special TV shows on Edison developed by the History Channel and A&E. His most recent presentations include appearances at Columbia University and the New Jersey Historical Society.

Please contact Ram Iyer at ramiyer@alum.mit.edu if you would like to take part in an afternoon press conference where the authors will be available to answer questions about importance of science and math, or on the life of Thomas Edison.

Contact:
Rachel Weissenburger
Weissenb@rci.rutgers.edu
732 445 8511 ext 10
The Edison Papers
Rutgers University
44 Road 3 - Livingston Campus
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8049 http://edison.rutgers.edu

Ram Iyer
President
ramiyer@alum.mit.edu
609 734 9100   MIT Club of Princeton
The Association of Alumni & Alumnae of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://alumweb.mit.edu/clubs/princeton/

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