A
fascination with how things work
By JENNA YOUNGS of the Tribunes staff
Don Shrubshell photo
Robert Duncan explains a research cell that he
developed to study superfluidity as part of a project for NASA.
Duncan is vice chancellor for research at the University of
Missouri.
Robert Duncans fascination with science is obvious - and
contagious.
During a meeting to discuss operations at the University of
Missouris Research Reactor, he used his necktie to identify
elements used as radioisotopes for medical tests. The tie was
adorned with the periodic table.
"I wear it periodically," he said, repeating a joke that his wife,
Annette Sobel, said he tells often.
Don Shrubshell photos
Above, Robert Duncan, vice chancellor for research at the University
of Missouri, talks about the high-wheel bicycle he occasionally
rides around campus. Duncan is a physicist by trade, and his wife,
Annette Sobel, said he is curious, inquisitive and an excellent
teacher. But sometimes he can be a bit of the absent-minded
professor. Below, Laura Murray, administrative assistant at the
office of research, talks with Duncan after an afternoon meeting.
In his second-floor office in Jesse Hall, Duncan - who became MUs
vice chancellor for research in August - is surrounded by props that
he uses to demonstrate physics principles to visitors.
A high-wheel bicycle stands in a corner by a bookshelf filled with
textbooks and some of his past research reports. "Sometimes I ride
that around campus," he said of the bicycle, which has a 50-inch
front wheel.
Duncan has parlayed his lifelong interest in science into a career
that has included serving as founding director of the Institute for
Advanced Studies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New
Mexico; chief operating officer for the New Mexico Consortium, an
organization of New Mexico research universities that promotes
scientific connections; and as a consultant for NASA working on the
first microgravity fundamental physics mission.
Sobels rsum is equally impressive. A physician who specializes in
family medicine, Sobel is a retired Air National Guard major general
and the former director of the New Mexico Governors Office of
Homeland Security. She now splits her work week between MU Provost
Brian Fosters office and the UM System Office for Research and
Economic Development.
Top-level administrators say the university is fortunate to have two
such accomplished individuals, and they expect the couples
connections could lead to increased research-revenue possibilities
for MU and the UM System.
●
Duncan, 49, said his "fascination with how things work" started at
an early age in his hometown of St. Joseph. One time, he flooded his
familys basement after taking apart an air conditioner.
"I kept disassembling all our home appliances," he said. "It was a
real problem."
Don Shrubshell photo
Duncan, left, and Sobel finish a meeting with University of Missouri
Provost Brian Foster in Jesse Hall.
As a teenager, Duncan fed his interest by working as a television
and radio repairman. While at St. Joseph Central High School, Duncan
won the Westinghouse Science Talent Search - a first for a student
from his school, he said.
Duncan then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
because, he said, it was considered the best place to pursue his
interest in electrical engineering. After receiving his bachelors
degree in physics in 1982, Duncan went to the West Coast to attend
the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his
doctorate in physics in 1988.
Duncan then joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico,
where he was a tenure-track professor of physics and astronomy,
joint associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and
later associate dean for research at the universitys College of
Arts and Sciences. He also was a visiting associate professor of
physics at the California Institute of Technology.
Sobel said Duncans first love has always been teaching, but he is
also an accomplished researcher. Duncan has received more than $8
million in project funding from sources including NASA, the Los
Alamos National Laboratory and the National Science Foundation.
Sobel, 51, started her military career at Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, N.J., where she was in the ROTC program. She received a
bachelors degree in chemistry, biochemistry and computer science at
Rutgers and was a distinguished military graduate at Princeton
University.
After her undergraduate studies, Sobel attended Case Western Reserve
University to receive her medical degree. She entered the Army in
1979 as a second lieutenant and was assigned to be the director of
undergraduate medical education in the Department of Family Medicine
at the Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, N.C. Sobel later
transferred to the Air National Guard and began working at the
Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, developing technologies
to protect military members and civilians from chemical and
biological threats.
From 2003 to 2005, Sobel served as director of the New Mexico Office
of Homeland Security under Gov. Bill Richardson. In the position,
she focused much of her efforts on border activities and protection
against threats to livestock and agricultural communities.
Duncan and Sobel met in 1992 when they were both scheduled to speak
at a conference for Sandia. "We both laughed because we both tried
to get out of the talks," she said. "Im glad we didnt."
They have been married for 16 years.
"Life with Rob is never boring," Sobel said. "We have a mutual
respect for each other, and were both highly competitive. Its good
hes not a physician and Im not a physicist."
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The job of vice chancellor for research is a big-picture job, Foster
said, and Duncan fit the profile.
"His ability to see the big picture at the university, fit the
pieces together and articulate it all really stood out," said
Foster, noting that Duncan was one of four candidates for the job
who were invited to campus in the spring for open forums and
interviews with faculty, students and administrators.
(Jim Coleman, former MU vice chancellor for research, left the
university last year to become vice provost for research at Rice
University.)
In his position, Duncan oversees all aspects of research at the
university, including grant processes to fund the research. Last
year, the university received more than $203 million - a record
figure - in external grants, mostly from federal and private
agencies outside Missouri.
Duncan said he wants to ensure the university continues to have a
"culture of innovation." Sobel said Duncan has a vast network of
collaborators and contacts that could benefit the universitys
development and research missions.
"Rob has collaborators at Caltech, at Yale, in Germany," she said.
"Hes clearly a hard-core physicist."
Mike Nichols, the UM System vice president for research and economic
development, said the university is lucky to have access to Sobels
network of contacts, too. She spends 25 percent of her work week in
Nichols office consulting on development efforts at other UM System
campuses.
With the recession straining state and federal budgets, the UM
System and MU have promoted higher education as a major economic
driver. Recently, UM System President Gary Forsee announced the
creation of an Economic Development and Research Council and plans
to hold two life science and energy summits later this year. Sobel
now is helping plan the summits.
The Economic Development and Research Council - which will include
Forsee, chancellors and Duncan, among others - will demonstrate how
research programs on campus help stimulate the economy.
Duncan said MUs economic impact on the state is more than $440
million per year, and he hopes to increase that amount by
encouraging research in applied research and by increasing the
number of private-public collaborations.
One project Duncan has been excited about since starting at MU is a
plan to make the MU Research Reactor the only U.S. producer of
molybdenum-99, a radioisotope used in more than 15 million medical
tests each year.
Although it would require the construction of a $40 million facility
adjacent to the reactor, the project would more than pay for itself
once completed, he said. The university is in the process of
identifying funding for the new building.
●
Duncan and Sobel said they see their positions as service roles.
"I have been exceptionally fortunate to have had highly dedicated
professors as educators," Duncan said. "I felt an extreme
responsibility to give back to education."
Sobel said Duncan misses some aspects of his previous job as a
professor but the administrative role suits him.
"I think it was a natural career path," she said. "Hes been in a
more administrative role the past six years. I think he misses his
research, but hes missing teaching his students more. He was always
so engaged there. But he needs to do this job and do it well."
Sobel said her positions with the provosts office and at the UM
System provide her with a chance to "get creative" and provide ideas
for collaborative research projects.
"Im really impressed by the university," she said. "Its a
world-class research institution, and it seems theres a real
dedication to a strong work ethic. Were doing the right thing,
getting engaged in new innovations. I can encourage people to meet
and talk and expand into interdisciplinary areas."
In his free time, Duncan works on physics problems for enjoyment.
"I did a physics calculation last night when I couldnt sleep," he
said. "It calms me down. Its fun stuff. I ask the question of: How
do things work? and then figure it out on that basis. Thats also a
key to good administration."
