Meet the Guy Who Makes the Parts that Make Research Work at ODU's Batten College of Engineering
He's an indispensable part of the team at the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology.
But were it not for a freak accident suffered by a co-worker, Kevin Colvin wouldn't be working at Old Dominion University at all.
Colvin has worked in the machine shop in Kaufman Hall since June 1999.
"I walked in the first day, put my big toolbox down, and it hasn't moved," he says.
His first few years, however, were anything but stable.
"I was working in Richmond (at Master Machine and Engineering) commuting 70 miles each way each day," Colvin says. "I was looking for a job closer to home (Hampton). I saw an ad in the Daily Press that ODU was looking for a laboratory instrument maker, and I applied."
Colvin says he was a little daunted before coming to Norfolk for the interview, as he would be working with many people with advanced degrees. He had started working at the Newport News shipyards at age 18, and didn't have any advanced education outside of his work apprenticeships.
"But when I showed up here, I looked around the shop and thought, 'This is exactly what I do,'" Colvin says. "I'd been taking things apart and putting them back together since I was a kid. Minibikes, motorcycles, anything mechanical."
Colvin accepted the job offer immediately, but after six months, was told that his job was going to be eliminated. Originally, he was working in the College of Sciences, but ended up doing most of his work on projects for the engineering college.
That's still what he does today. On any given day, you can find him in the shop, fashioning parts out of plastic, ceramic, stainless steel, titanium and other metals for various experiments by engineering faculty members.
Early on, though, it wasn't clear Colvin was going to stay at ODU.
A few times, it came down to the last few weeks before the money was found to keep his position open. Once, the president of a company he was working for - on an ODU-led project - wrote a letter to the university, urging that Colvin be kept on. This went on for two years.
Finally, Colvin was down to his last opportunity. His job was to be eliminated in just a few weeks. But a friend and colleague at the university got his lab coat caught in the lathe, breaking his arm in two places.
Following surgery, the colleague wasn't able to lift his arm high enough to do the work required on a machine shop mill, so ODU found another job for him on campus, and Colvin moved into the machine shop full time.
"My position ended up being eliminated. I'm so happy that he recovered, but if it hadn't been for that accident, I would have been long gone, somewhere else."
Bernie Bohm, assistant dean of the Batten College, is one among many in the engineering college who are impressed by Colvin's abilities.
"Kevin Colvin is one of the best-kept secrets of the Batten College of Engineering and Technology," says Assistant Dean Bernie Bohm. "Engineers do things, make things and extend knowledge. Kevin takes the ideas of engineers and actually makes the objects, fulfils the ideas and creates the objects. There is no one better that can do that for our faculty and staff."
It's not always easy.
Colvin shows a stack of construction orders, some meticulously rendered, others practically drawn on a napkin.
"A professor will come in and hand me a sheet and say, 'Here, make this.' No measurements, no data, just a picture," Colvin laughs. "It's fun to try and figure out."