Larry Sears continues to be constructing—and having enjoyable | CWRU Newsroom

When college students enter the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears assume[box], they may discover certainly one of its namesakes at a workbench, soldering or swapping concepts with fellow makers.

“You learn by watching what other people are doing,” mentioned Larry Sears (CIT ’69), who holds or co-holds almost 20 patents. “I still do.”

A longtime Case Western Reserve University trustee and former adjunct professor {of electrical} engineering, Sears is a gentle presence within the innovation middle he helped convey to life.

Last 12 months, for instance, he helped begin CWRU’s thinkSTEM, a summer season day camp for middle-schoolers, introducing them to engineering. And final spring, he competed alongside college students within the inaugural assume[box] Derby together with his personal entry: a fan-powered automobile that began on the end line and raced backward up the observe.

“That’s what engineers do—figure out problems. And if they don’t have a problem to solve, they usually make one up themselves.”
—Larry Sears

His perception in hands-on studying goes again to his undergraduate days at Case Institute of Technology, when he held campus lab jobs working in electronics that offered foundational studying alternatives important to his eventual success.

After commencement, Sears based Hexagram Inc. and ultimately developed wi-fi programs that allowed utilities to learn gasoline, water and electrical meters remotely—know-how that helped usher in what’s now referred to as sensible metering.

“My real-world experience as an undergraduate was invaluable,” he mentioned. “And I wanted to make sure that others had the same opportunity. Even if students were not fortunate enough to have the deep laboratory experiences that I had, I wanted to acquaint them with real-world design, engineering and manufacturing; engineers should understand how things are made.”

That perception grew to become the inspiration for Sears assume[box].