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Michael Pappas, Caldwell o Frederick Buechel, South Orange Endotec, Inc., South Orange Since the two men invented the New Jersey Low Contact Stress Total Knee Replacement System, nearly one million people worldwide have enjoyed its benefits. Pappas was teaching biomechanics at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1974 when he asked Buechel to help him build a better knee implant. What makes the New Jersey Knee different from previous prosthetics, which were essentially hinges, are multiple parts and a mobile bearing design that allow for more flexible, natural movement, and less wear under pressure. The two, who also wholly own Endotec Inc. of South Orange and Bloomfield, have also designed a total ankle system, a total hip and a total shoulder. Buechel, an orthopedic surgereon who practices with the South Mountain Orthopedic Associates, South Orange, also serves on the clinical faculty of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. Pappas, a native of Newark, received a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from NJIT and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He is also an adjunct associate professor of surgery at UMDNJ and a past professor of Mechanical Engineering at NJIT. He also served as acting director at NJIT's Center for Manufacturing Engineering Systems from 1987-1990. The two were honored recently as winners of the 1998 New Jersey Pride Awards by New Jersey Monthly magazine, which will profile them in the May, 1998 issue. The award is given "to individuals who have dedicated themselves in making the Garden State a better place to live."