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| Vol. 18, No. 3 | Sept. 17, 1998 |
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| Vol. 18, No. 3 | Sept. 17, 1998 |
Periodically, press conferences are held to announce major research grants, and newspaper articles focus on faculty recipients of significant research awards. But, in basement offices and attic shops far from the media spotlight, skilled craftspersons continue work that is critical to the success of many University research projects.
At UD, these employees are known as instrument technicians, laboratory technicians and instrument makers. They are found in a number of departments doing similar jobs-making special machinery or instruments that are essential for new and ongoing research projects.
According to Costel Denson, vice provost for research, "Much of today's research, especially in a major research university such as ours-demands that we have a captive facility to manufacture special instruments and equipment accurately, cost effectively and in a timely fashion.
"Our University employees, who I generally refer to as special instrument makers-whether they work in electronics, machine shops, composites, glassware or with other materials-are critical to the success of the University's scientific research efforts."
While their skills and resourcefulness are well known by administrators, faculty and student researchers, many members of the general University population are unaware of their existence.
Sam Merrick, psychology, is a master instrument maker who designs equipment for research. He's been doing the job for 26 years. When he began in 1972, he said his equipment was quite different than today's state-of-the-art technology.
"I didn't have computers like we have now," he said. "It was mainly a lot of electronics and mechanical instruments, largely vacuum tubes. Now it's all integrated circuits. There's a lot more computer work today."
Like his colleagues in other work areas, Merrick meets with a researcher or laboratory assistants. Together, they discuss the project, focus on what needs to be made and agree on the final makeup of the measurement instrument needed for the research.
"Depending upon the needs of the scientist," Merrick said, "the size can vary from small boxes to large projects. If it's real simple, it can take an hour to do. But, if I get into it and we have to make adjustments along the way, it can take a lot longer, sometimes several days, weeks or even months."
Over the years, Merrick has built such high-tech sounding instruments as intercellular recording devices, cell, optical and electronic stimulators, window discriminators and lickometers.
At times he's asked to create something totally new. But, he said, a significant portion of his time is spent building instruments that are similar to those used in previous projects.
"I usually can figure out what I need to do from seeing what other people have done previously," Merrick said. "I'm also able to call vendors that I deal with and get diagrams of their equipment to see how to get things done."
Does he ever get any rush jobs?
"Sometimes," he said, smiling. Then he added, "Some people say, 'I need it yesterday!' All I can do is the best that I can. They're not going to get it yesterday. They're not going to get it today, and they're probably not going to get it tomorrow."
George Rutynowski, master instrument technician in chemistry and biochemistry, said he and his coworkers "design or help design, change, modify or build whatever is needed from scratch."
In the past few decades that he's been in the job, Rutynowski said he's seen the department's faculty double in size and the work in the shop has increased as well.
"Things are more complex now," he said. "The computer has changed the job, and today we work with materials such as stainless steel, nickel steel, titanium and composites. A lot of the time, we sit down with the faculty and find out what they want, what the instrument has to do and how we are going to make it so it does the job.
"We're the workers on the sidelines. Not a lot of people know about us. Everybody also thinks that chemistry is only beakers and test tubes. It's a lot more."
Despite a never-ending flow of projects, Rutynowski said job satisfaction is high.
"What I like about this job," he said, "is the personal contact, dealing with people and seeing the stuff work when it's done. That's very satisfying."
Working in Brown Laboratory has a special significance for Rutynowski.
"I went to Brown Technical School in Wilmington," he said. "It was named after H. Fletcher Brown, the same person this building is named after. The same picture that hangs in the foyer here was hanging in the old Brown Tech. I guess you could say his ghost has been haunting me for years."
At the opposite end of the Brown Hall basement is the office and work area of Doug Nixon, the University's master glass technologist. Nixon has been working with glass for 17 years, and 10 of them have been at UD.
"When people find out I'm a glassblower," he said, "they ask me if I make little animals or test tubes. Actually, the answer is neither."
He explained that craftspersons make the tiny creatures sold at craft shows and major manufacturing plants mass produce standard test tubes and beakers. His work is much more specialized, responding to requests for specific research projects.
A member of the American Scientific Glass Blowing Society, Nixon said every major university with a good research program and every top chemistry department has a glass blower on staff.
Nixon said he also responds to the needs of other departments that do not have a glass technician. Work requests have come from such varied disciplines as life and health sciences, animal sciences, marine studies, plant and soil sciences and food and resource economics.
Seeing the product move from the initial idea to actual use is satisfying to Nixon.
"I deal with the end user here, and that is great," he said. "In industry, you're given a job, you make it, they send it out and you never see the results or how it works. Here, you have input into a piece and you see how it works. I'm like an internal consultant in glass technology."
Touy Thiravong, senior laboratory technician in composites, goes beyond product development and manufacturing. He also teaches new researchers how to work with composites and make research instruments.
At UD since 1978, Thiravong said, "I train undergraduates and graduate students to be familiar with composite materials. A lot of them don't know about composites. I show them the cuts, breaks, laying up process and make tasks or assignments and test them. This is how I teach them to understand the basics of composites."
For the last 10 years, students from different classes-in such disciplines as mechanical, civil and chemical engineering and materials science-have spent time learning in Thiravong's workshops. Some will study with him for several weeks.
"It's very basic," he said. "We start from the raw material, make the test component and test for strength and tension. In the beginning, when they asked me to teach the students, I thought it was going to be very difficult for me, but I know what I'm doing, so I just jumped in and showed them."
Like his counterparts in other departments, Thiravong also works on projects for individual faculty and their assistants. This gives him variety and a sense of purpose. "I do manufacturing, I do testing, I do maintenance and I do research and testing and teaching," he said.
"In this center," he added, "we work like a family. When students come to me, I feel like they are children in my family. I feel very proud when I see what they are able to learn. Once you help somebody and they know how to do things, it's good. Some say to me, 'This is something I never thought I would learn.'"
-Ed Okonowicz
Photos by Jack Buxbaum and Robert Cohen
