A closer look inside UNM's Physics & Astronomy Machine Shop

Did you know The University of New Mexico's Department of Physics and Astronomy has a machine shop? A special place inside PAÍS with all types of tools and machines to build things that can't exactly be purchased at the store. It's all to support research within their department and all areas across campus, such as the College of Engineering (COE), Center for High Tech Materials (CHTM), Chemistry and Biology, along with various departments in the Health Sciences Center (HSC).

"There are a lot of different research projects on campus that need custom fixtures made, support, infrastructure for experiments happening, so anywhere on campus, we're available for that," said Anthony Gravagne, the senior machinist at the Department of Physics and Astronomy Machine Shop.

He believes the shop has been operational since the 1950s for the same purpose: to aid in research. Gravagne said the shop assisted with satellite infrastructure in the 1960s and supported the on-campus observatory. While machine shops are not unique to universities, UNM's Physics and Astronomy machine shop is distinct because it contributes to broader research, working for other departments across campus besides its own, including several outside entities like nonprofits, the national labs, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.

There are several notable designs the machine shop has created, such as making and maintaining the large physics demos in PAÍS and Regener lecture halls, and previously fabricating some support frames for dark matter research.

"These were large acrylic frames that we had to make, detectors that went deep underground into mines," he said. "I don't always know all the science behind the stuff we make, I get the drawings and sketches and they say make this."

Generally, research faculty and graduate students utilize the services in the machine shop. A student shop is also built into the area, where trained graduate and undergraduate students can use the equipment. Nearly seven years ago, the shop moved to its current location in PAÍS from UNM's north campus at Lomas and Yale, where the new critical care tower now stands.

After 20 years at the machine shop, Gravagne expresses great pride in his work and supporting research missions across various fields.

"A lot of the research we have been involved in has been beneficial for medicine, X-ray technology, and general physics advancements over the years, so I take pride in knowing that I was able to help with that in some small way," he said. "It's not so much just coming into work and making the same thing over and over again. It's a chance for me to assist in the research mission for the university at large and build my skill set doing it, in a way that's beneficial to the state."

The shop will cost you $25 an hour. There are several other machine shops across UNM's campus, such as the College of Engineering's Mechanical Engineering Machine Shop and facilities in CHTM on the south campus.