When he first started at Xerox four decades ago, Peter A. Crean recalls that he could barely explain the type of work he did to his next-door neighbors in Penfield.
Forty years later, Crean, a senior fellow in the Xerox Research Center in Webster, says there’s a certain satisfaction for him that people understand when he talks about high-speed color printers, customized publishing and the like.
“We’re all back-room physicists, but we’re not the mad scientist type — the kind where you slide graham crackers under the door once a day and just wait for great things to come out,” he says in his Xerox profile.
In 1970, Crean was one three scientists who were on the initial engineering team that produced the Xerox Corporation’s first laser printer. In his long and distinguished career, he has received 40 patents in the fields of image scanning and ink jet printing.
Just last week, Crean learned that he is to receive the Reed Medal on March 16 at the 62nd annual conference of the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts. He will be traveling to San Diego, Calif., to accept the award, established in 1976 and named for one of the pioneers of lithography.
Crean answered some questions for the Post last week:
Q. What does the award mean to you?
A. It both acknowledges my work at Xerox and an industry that has moved from offset presses to be more influenced by digital technology. High-quality color printing is now our bread and butter.
Q. As a scientist, how do you see your role?
A. Scientists play an important role in nurturing the acceptance of different viewpoints and approaches to problem solving. ... We have to be able to influence people quietly or not so quietly. We come in all flavors.
Q. How has your role changed over the years?
A. The first 20 years, I was mostly in the lab; today, I spend a lot more time listening to what our customers want.
Q. What kinds of things do you work on today?
A. Currently, my work is focused on variable imaging systems — publishing customized documents quickly and cheaply. I call it “extreme personalized print.” I’m also working on high-performance printing, like for books you get off the Web.
Q. What brought you to Rochester?
A. I moved here in 1970 to work at Xerox. The company I went to then had just gone through a huge expansion in the previous 10 years; it’s evolved since then; we’ve worked on all the pieces together.
