Research and Development Council of New Jersey

The Research and Development Council of NJ is led by a board of directors with Dr. Ian Shankland of Honeywell Specialty Materials acting as chairman.

Each year, the R&D Council of New Jersey honors noteworthy efforts of scientists and inventors, as well as their organizations, with the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award.

The 2010 award recipients were Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, ExxonMobil, NJIT, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, BASF, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Osteotech, and Stevens Institute of Technology.

Governor Kean was rated among America's five most effective state leaders by Newsweek magazine, noted especially for the more than 30 education reforms he oversaw during his tenure.

The award is given to students pursuing a major in the sciences, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) fields based on their academic excellence and financial need.

The Research & Development Council of New Jersey's Science and Technology Medal was created in 1980 and is awarded annually to a leader of a technology-based company or a university for "extraordinary performance in bringing innovation from the laboratory to the market place."

Dr. Smith received one-quarter share of a Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of an imaging semiconductor unit, his work paved the way for affordable camcorders and scanning equipment.