Dave has an office on the 4th floor of the National Weather Center, and a workbench in NSSL’s machine shop down in the “vehicle bay.” The shop looks like a miniature Home Depot; an organized clutter of soldering guns, wires and voltage meters. Shelves are stacked with radiosondes, electric field meters, balloon launching materials and the high-wind balloon launching tube he built out of a plastic swimming pool cover and Velcro. Helium tanks line the walls under white boards with schematic drawings of the HD Particle Imager. This is where creativity takes shape and inventions are born.
With calls for his launch teams to report to the vehicle bay late at night to intercept approaching storms, it has been hard to tell Dave is trying to retire. He plans to continue his research, but at a slower pace. A lifetime of curiosity and ingenuity has made Dave Rust a pioneer and an expert in the field of storm electricity, and we at NSSL are grateful for his vision and impact.
