May 26, 2010

Mike Caruso, Rick Greene Win UEC Community Service Awards

The NSLS Users' Executive Committee (UEC) awarded the 2010 UEC Community Service Award for outstanding service, innovation, and dedication to users of the NSLS to two recipients, Mike Caruso and Rick Greene. Caruso is a mechanical technician for the VUV beamlines and Greene is a mechanical technician for the X-ray beamlines.

Mike Caruso

Rick Greene

Caruso joined Brookhaven Lab in 1981 to work in the ultra-high vacuum group on the ISABELLE project. In 1983, after ISABELLE was terminated, he transferred to the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. He joined the NSLS vacuum group in 1984, servicing the X-ray, VUV, and Booster rings as well as the Linac. He now works with the Mechanical Technicians group, providing experiment support, performing leak testing, making repairs, and installing upgrades. He also is assisting with R&D work for NSLS-II. Caruso earned an Associate's degree in science in 1980 from Suffolk Community College and an electronics degree in 1984 from the National Radio Institute of Electronics.

Caruso is being recognized for his great skill in vacuum systems as well as his unfailingly sunny personality. "Mike is very helpful, always smiling and ready to help," said one user in support of his nomination. "I've always found Mike to be extremely cheerful and eager to help," said another user. "He's got the most consistently cheerful and optimistic outlook I've ever seen in a person. And he helps non-NSLS PRT staff as much as NSLS staff, for which I am eternally grateful."

After graduating from a special BOCES aircraft mechanic program and working in the field for several years, Greene joined Brookhaven Lab in 1978 – the year the ground was broken for the NSLS – as a vacuum technician. He was involved in numerous stages of construction, assembly, and commissioning for the facility's storage rings, Linac, RF cavities, and beamlines. When NSLS operations began, he was one of the first operations coordinators. In 1986, Greene joined the NSLS instrument development group (now known as the Mechanical Technicians group) as a beamline technician. In this role, he aligns and cuts crystals for monochromators, provides experiment support, and designs, builds, and upgrades NSLS beamlines and equipment.

Greene is being recognized for the breadth of talents and expertise that he brings to the experimental floor. He is truly a jack-of-all-trades. In support of his nomination, one NSLS user asked "What doesn't Rick do? He knows vacuum, crystal, rigging and probably a bunch of things I have never called on him for." Another said: "Rick is also very helpful with any technical problem, if you mention it to him, it is for sure that it will be solved."

Caruso and Greene received $250 gift certificates from the UEC in recognition of their excellent service. Their names also will be engraved on a plaque displayed in the NSLS lobby.