'I love technology'

Jeff Clark teaches high-tech robotics and understands the inner workings of complex computer networking, but his love of discovering how things work started with a 1960s-era Electrolux vacuum cleaner.

“I was 10 years old and my mother had an old vacuum that broke,” Clark said. “I took it apart and fixed it, and she was surprised because it was really broken.”

That ignited in Clark a curiosity that led him to study mechanical engineering at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, from which he graduated cum laude. In the academy and as a Naval reservist for six years, Clark had a yearlong engineering internship at sea, sailed around the world a few times and completed two tours on aircraft carriers.

Clark worked for 22 years at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, then for 15 as director of Enterprise Systems at Skidmore College. At SUNY Adirondack, he teaches courses in robotics, electromechanics including pneumatics and hydraulics, and networking, but he isn’t new to education.

“I’ve always been a teacher,” Clark said. “At the Department of Energy, I led training courses and computer security; at Skidmore, I taught classes to faculty and students; and in the Navy, I taught nuclear power operators.”

He earned a certificate in higher education from University of Buffalo and attended a Teach for the Future seminar, where he learned skills he still uses in the classroom today.

“For every student, every group, every class, you find what works and stick with it,” he said.

His love of what he does helps, as he is always reading and experimenting to learn more and stay on the cutting edge of technology.

“Think of how awesome it is that we can take something moving 186,000 miles a second, slice and measure it so precisely,” he gushed over a laser tape measure. “I love technology and I try to convey that love to my students.”