Lindsay Craig -- Teaching Tech to Help Solve the World’s Problems

Growing up in a small Massachusetts town, Lindsay Craig didn’t look up to sports stars or celebrities. His heroes were the likes of Nikola Tesla and Isaac Asimov.

At age 36, one could now argue that Craig, better known as Linz to his friends, is a hero in his own right.

Craig works tirelessly to make sure children, here in the US and as far away as Uganda, have access to technology. And, he takes the time to teach them the basic concepts of that technology.

This is just part of the reason he was named the Design News 2017 Rising Engineering Star during the 16 ^th annual Golden Mousetrap Awards ceremony, held earlier this month in Anaheim, Calif., in conjunction with Pacific Design & Manufacturing.

“The unmitigated joy on any kid’s face when they light up an LED is just absolutely amazing,” Craig said the next day during a Center Stage presentation on the show floor.

He told the standing-room-only crowd about his frequent travels to Africa, where he teaches kids the basics of Arduino, Bluetooth, and drag-and-drop programming, among many other skills.

“These people are capable of PCB design at the age of 8 or 9; all people in all cultures,” Craig said, adding that the kids he teaches work with wooden robotics because they simply can’t buy off-the-shelf- parts. “These are incredibly ecstatic kids who are building amazing things. These kids are literally going to turn around and provide solutions to problems in their community.”

Though he is not an engineer by degree, Craig “pays the bills” by working as a junior engineer for Zebulon Solutions. He co-founded SparkFun’s Electronics Education Department and has created two start-ups – LC’s LLC and QuestBotics.

His most recent endeavor is teaching algebraic equations to 3 year olds. “I know they can do it,” he said. “They need the tools and they need to stay as far away as possible from the people who tell them they can’t do it.”

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