Scientific Instrument Maker, Chemistry and Physics Instrument Shop, UNL

The Board of Regents is pleased to present a Kudos award to Robert Rhynalds, Scientific Instrument Maker in the Chemistry and Physics Instrument Shop at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Bob came to the University in 2001. He has worked on hundreds of instruments for the departments of chemistry and physics, as well as the colleges of arts and sciences and engineering, through his efforts for the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience. In every endeavor, Bob has displayed high standards of quality and craftsmanship. He takes exceptional pride in his work, is eager to learn new skills, and is genuinely interested in the experiments his projects relate to. Bob also communicates effectively with researchers.

Bob’s guidance in matters of the appropriate constraints on machined parts provides a wonderful education for students. This is particularly valuable for students just beginning to learn how to interface with the machine shop.

His skills have advanced such that he collaborates in the design phase with experimenters and he often does the design work from simple descriptions of a need. He is described as one of the best machinists, which is a testament not only to his superb machining skills, but also to his ability to design, visualize and create solutions to sometimes-difficult engineering problems. Even with difficult problems with tight constraints, his solutions are elegant, doable and economical.