Event
The Tesla Science Center: Launch of a Global Museum and Science Center
October 13, 2022
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Online
This event is part of the Industry Leaders Lecture Series, sponsored by the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences.
The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe is launching an International Museum and Science Center at the historic site of Nikola Tesla’s last remaining lab, which is located on Long Island, in Shoreham, New York. Nikola Tesla is a famed inventor whose work with AC Electric distribution and motors, wireless technology, radio, remote control, and many other inventions transformed our lives and launched the modern technological age. Tesla's lab was saved thanks to a world record-breaking crowdfund that raised $1.4 million in six weeks, from 33,000 donors that represented over 108 countries and all 50 states. Construction is beginning this year to open the site to the public, providing exhibition and programming both on-site and virtually, celebrating Tesla and his inventions as well as innovation in general past, present, and future. We celebrate innovators like Tesla who move humanity forward through invention. This talk will be an introduction to that project and vision.
Register- Host and Moderator: Babak D., Beheshti, Ph.D.
- Speaker: Mr. Marc Alessi
About the Industry Leaders Lecture Series
Dean Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D., New York Tech College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, hosts the Industry Leader Lecture Series, offering students and practitioners a chance to hear from and interact with distinguished professionals in the tech industry.
Working professionals and undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to attend and learn from these leaders’ insights. The series offers participants a unique opportunity to ask questions about career choices and hear advice and stories directly from experts in the field. All talks will be web-based.
Certifications will be awarded, by request, to New York Tech students who attend two of the three sessions during the fall semester.
View All Events In This Series »
Speaker
Marc Alessi is an attorney and startup entrepreneur, he brings to his role at the Tesla Science Center years of experience in the not-for-profit sector serving as the Executive Director of the Business Incubator Association of New York State, as a board member of Peconic Bay Medical Center and Northwell Health, a former board member of the East End Arts Council, Nassau Suffolk Law Services and the Long Island Power Authority. As a former Assemblyman, Mr. Alessi was instrumental in securing a $850,000 grant from New York State to help preserve the Tesla property. This grant, which required a match, was the impetus of the world record breaking crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo that raised $1.4 Million in six weeks from 108 countries and 33,000 investors around the world.
Mr. Alessi has helped to launch and finance a number of startup tech companies on Long Island and is focused on making our region one that rivals and compliments other innovation hotspots around the world. In addition to his role at Tesla, Marc serves as the Executive Director of the Business Incubator Association of New York State, a trade association that is comprised of over 100 incubators around New York that house and mentor over 3,000 startups every year. Mr. Alessi’s experience in startup enterprise is key to the launching of operations here at the Center. He sees the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe as an important temple to technology that speaks to the history of innovation, celebrates and promotes the current role of innovation in our lives, and inspires future inventors like Nikola Tesla to embrace science and innovation to change the world.
Host/Moderator
Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D., Professor and Dean, NYIT College of Engineering and Computing Sciences
Babak's experience in higher education spans over 35 years, where he has served as a full-time faculty member, president of the Academic Senate, associate dean, and dean. As dean, Babak led the engineering college to the introduction of its first two Ph.D. programs, in computer science and engineering, two new bachelor's degree programs and one new master's degree program, in addition to leading the college through its fastest climb in national rankings: #33 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (National – no doctorate)—a climb of 13 places since 2020, and #191 Best Computer Science Undergraduate Programs (National – no doctorate), a new ranking in 2021—a climb of 40 places since 2020.
In line with the career-oriented mission of New York Tech, Babak has led the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences in building a strong partnership with industry and government organizations, including NASA, Zscaler, IBM Red Hat, Xilinx, Soter Technologies, and Zebra Technologies.
Babak has served as a member of the IEEE Board of Directors (2018-19), and a member of the Board of Directors of Long Island Software and Technology Network (LISTnet). In 2022, he serves as a member of the Educational Activities board and the chair of the Continuing Education Committee. He also serves on the board of IgniteLI—Long Island Manufacturing Consortium and is a member of the advisory board of The International Association of Transportation Regulators.
He is a recipient of the IEEE's MGA Leadership Award, IEEE Millennium Medal, the IEEE LI Section Athanasios Papoulis Outstanding Educator Award, and three IEEE Region 1 Awards, including the 2008 IEEE Northeastern Region Technical Innovation Award.
He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and his master's and bachelor's degrees in Electrical Engineering at Stony Brook University.