Interview with Seth Hollar

Featured Engineer

Seth Hollar

Seth Hollar, PhD, Associate Director, Engineering Entrepreneurs Program, North Carolina State University

How did you get into electronics/ engineering and when did you start?

High school. My father had gone to post graduate school in the Navy, and he had some of his old text books. Radio Shack was a good place to go to buy stuff to tinker around with.

What are your favorite hardware tools that you use?

Oscilloscopes, multimeters, glue gun, hacksaw.

What are your favorite software tools that you use?

C++ is my favorite. Microchip and Windows Compilers.

What is the hardest/trickiest bug you have ever fixed?

There was once this Atmel microcontroller that would hang when I tried to program it. There must have been an error on the Silicon because the initializing read command failed to work. As a last ditch effort, I tried all 8 bit permutations of codes until I found one that worked. It wasn’t pretty, but at least I could reliably program the Atmel chip.

What is on your bookshelf?

Some books I have on my bookshelf involve entrepreneurship, electrical engineer, mechanical engineering. I really enjoyed Electromagnetics by Jackson, and Four Steps to the Epiphany by Blank.

What are you currently working on?

I teach the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program. This is a program where students do their senior design in the context of a start-up company. In the first semester, we mostly focus on business basics, and the second semester involves writing a business plan and developing a prototype.

As part of the entrepreneurs experience, I hold many hats. Academically, I teach students about technology startups. Privately, I work with other startups and do some engineering consulting. I do have a passion for autonomous cars, or cars that drive themselves. It is something that you don’t here about much, but believe me, it will turn into an industry in and of itself.

Can you tell us about the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program and the projects done in this program?

In regards to the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program, here is a little history.

The program was founded in 1993 by Dr. Tom Miller who continues to oversee its activities. A multi-disciplinary faculty team with backgrounds including engineering, psychology, business, and communications teaches the students.

We focus on teaching senior design through the context of starting a company. The real joy I have is when the students have that moment of epiphany where they realize that someone else could pay them real money for something they design.

We have grown the program to include visits to start-up companies both within the Research Triangle Park area in and around Raleigh, and we have an annual trip to the heart of venture-capital start-ups in Silicon Valley.

Furthermore, we have started a K-12 outreach program working with a local elementary school doing two activities. Firstly, we have an introductory engineering entrepreneurship class where we have the students compete to make the best toy for kindergartners. This is a two phase activity where our students come in to “observe” their customers (i.e. kindergartners). Then, our students build their products (i.e. toys) in the next 3 weeks. Afterward, their is a toy day where the kindergartners can play with all the toys and choose the one they like the best. It is really a great experience for the students. For one, as a student, you can spend a long time on your project, but if the kindergartner doesn’t like, it won’t matter how many hours you spent on it. On the other hand, if you really understand what kindergartners like, it may not take you too long at all to create something that they really like. It comes down to understanding your customer and getting feedback from them early and often.

As an additional project, we work with 5th graders taking them through a mini course on entrepreneurship. We focus on learning through experience, and the 4 day workshop is similar to the above mentioned toy project. In this case, the 5th graders create products for a 2nd grade class. On the last day, the 2nd graders are given “play money” where they can negotiate and buy toys from the 5th graders. Again, if the 5th grade team makes something the 2nd graders don’t want, then the time and cost of materials they spent won’t yield a positive profit. If there is a product that is in high demand, the 5th grade team usually will demand a higher price. This is especially true towards the end when inventory runs low.

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?

My only trick is to listen to the people. Too many times, things are designed in a box without getting the necessary feedback from the people that matter. With that said, engineering schools are really good at teaching engineering, but many times they down play the importance of soft skills, things like cold calling, understanding business basics, working in a multi-disciplinary team. I don’t know of any engineering school where there is a required class that forces students to cold call businesses or people. In the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program, we try to teach these basic elements in their final year. Cold calling is a big deal for me, and to get students to over come their jitters, we have them cold call on an intercom in front of the whole class. A little nerve racking for some, but it gets them over the hump.

What direction do you see your business heading in the next few years?

I see myself further promoting the importance of entrepreneurship and business skills in the development of curriculum in both universities and K thru 12. While many aspects of education are grade based, I see potential and value in a portfolio based education. Employers are much more interested in knowing what you have built as opposed to what courses you have taken. If you demonstrate a “can do” attitude by doing a number of successful projects, you will definitely make an impression.

What challenges do you foresee in our industry?

I can’t really speak for EE as a whole, but there is always opportunity no matter where you are. While the general assumption is that some positions have narrowly defined job descriptions, employers are interested in people who understand “getting the job done”. Going beyond your job description to streamline a process, bring in new customers, or develop something new, whether or not it is part of your description is definitely someone I would want to work with.

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