Lemelson-MIT Recognizes NJIT Overseer for Being a Pioneer in Picture and Video Messaging
Daniel Henderson finds himself in great company.
Henderson, a pioneer in wireless picture and video messaging in cell phones, is now featured on Lemelson-MIT’s online wall of inventors, which includes the likes of Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison and Hedy Lamarr.
Henderson, an overseer at New Jersey Institute of Technology who also serves on the Board of Visitors of NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College, holds 31 U.S. patents and is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. In addition, two of his prototype wireless devices — created 30 years ago this year — are part of the collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
Budding inventors
His latest recognition, which notes his “close affiliation” with NJIT, came as he spoke to a group of young adults enrolled in a program at Lemelson-MIT, the invention education unit of MIT’s School of Engineering. The program, known as Leaders Inventing the Future Together, or LIFT, is a partnership with My Brother’s Keeper in Cambridge, Mass.
Henderson, whose mentors included caller ID and answering machine inventor Kazuo Hashimoto and computer chip pioneer Jack Kilby, became a mentor himself to the 18-to-24-year-olds at LIFT, offering life lessons and tangible examples of his inventions, including an original cell phone and a patent. The goal was to help them think like inventors.
“He left a great impression on them,” said Tracy Jean-Chronberg, communications manager at Lemelson-MIT.
Henderson was humbled and energized by the experience. In a way, it reminded him of another key endeavor at NJIT: coaching students as a member of its External Advisory Board for Undergraduate Research.
Impactful university
Henderson also judges faculty projects as chair of the Excellence in Research Medal Committee of the Board of Overseers and has given generously to the university, earning induction into its Colton Society of donors. Indeed, he’s an exceptional friend of the public polytechnic, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011. He’s proud of the affiliation.
“We’re making great strides as a top ranked research university and we’re getting the attention of some much larger peer institutions like MIT,” Henderson said. “I also felt that when I was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors with Professor [Tara] Alvarez. Indeed, we’re starting to move beyond a regional university to become an institution that has national and international impact.”
