In June of this year, the Board of Directors created the office of Vice President of Research, and named Larry Jacobsen to that position. Company President Paul Campbell noted that a key to success is matching technology to customer needs. “Attention to strategic product development has been a shared responsibility among several key people in the organization,” says Paul. “Larry’s experience, interests, and capabilities provide a natural fit to improve the company’s leadership in this area.”
Larry came to Campbell Scientific from the Space Dynamics Laboratory in 1992. Since then, he has consistently developed products that propel the company into new fields of measurement technology. He was the principal designer of the CSAT3 3-D Sonic Anemometer (an important advance for our surface-flux systems) and helped us take great strides in signal processing with spectral analyzers by developing the CR9052 modules for the CR9000X, and the AVW200 for vibrating-wire measurements.
Paul notes, “Larry has a natural ability for effective communication." Larry has published technical articles and given presentations communicating advanced knowledge in his field—recently sharing principles of spectral analysis of vibrating-wire measurements at a conference.
From Larry’s perspective, “If you are an instrumentation engineer like me, then it’s a good day to be alive.” He sees the world needing more good and meaningful measurements, and Campbell Scientific has the chance to develop new technologies to make those measurements. He says, “Sometimes a better way to make measurements involves something old and something new.” He applied this philosophy as the key inventor of the AVW200, which brought a quantum leap in improved accuracy and reduced noise to traditional vibrating-wire measurements.
The new VP will have a dual role, incorporating a lot of customer interaction with his engineering duties. Again, from Paul Campbell, “I am confident that customers will benefit from Larry’s more direct involvement with them in the short term, and from a continuation of application-relevant products in the future through his leadership.”
