Demetri Papagermanos
Instructional Support Technician - Machinist
Start Date: October 10, 2024
A self-described ‘gear head’ who loves to ‘make and fix’ things, working as a machinist at SBU checks all the boxes for Demetri Papagermanos. “It’s just really fun. I forget that it's work,” he says. “Every day, I get to continue to do the things that I liked to do when I was a student here. And I know I’m helping the Physics and Astronomy Department make the world a better place. So it’s great.”
Demetri's SBU journey began in 2019 as an undergrad pursuing a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree, which he received in May of 2024.
Growing up in Queens and now living in Port Jefferson, Demetri says he knew all about SBU and when he visited, he knew this was the place – and path – for him. Living on and off campus, he took advantage of many opportunities, most notably the on-campus motorsports team. “That club helped drive and fuel my desire to learn mechanical engineering. It was a way to sharpen my skill set and get better at racing. But I also learned skills like welding there. And I held multiple leadership positions throughout the club.”
One of the main benefits, says Demetri, is “it took the engineering principles and theories we learned in the classroom and applied them to real life.”
Now, Demetri gets to apply his skills to real-world problems – doing work that enables scientists to conduct effective experiments to further their innovative research and development. Vacuum chambers and other lab fixtures he designs and creates, for example, help top physicists create the right environment to test their theories. A lot of that work, says Demetri, is in the ever-changing and expanding fields of atomic, molecular and optical physics, as well as high energy and nuclear physics. “But applications also run the gamut from improving the internet via quantum computing to crucial components for the detectors used by Brookhaven National Laboratories on their Heavy Ion Collider research that explores the very fabric of our universe,” says Demetri.
One of the things he likes best about his job is that “It's almost entirely different from day to day and I like the variance of it all. There's a lot of figuring out and problem solving, which I also love … going back and forth to make sure that the part we deliver is what the scientists want, that it meets their criteria and does what they want it to do.
“It’s also about trying to machine it quickly, effectively and precisely. Overall, we’re trying to help them take their thought process and turn it into something that’s manufacturable, which is really tangible and very satisfying.”
Demetri also gets to work with “a lot of the researchers, students and many other departments within the university,” he says. And he believes his experiences and skill sets “give me a little bit of a bridge to some of the students and researchers in the physics department to help better understand their needs.” Among these he counts: a background knowledge of practical engineering, experience with both manual machining and programming and modeling, a knack for designing for manufacturing, and a background in modern physics from taking SBU courses.
Outside of work, Demetris’ ‘big passion/big hobby’’ for the last decade and counting is something called drifting. “It’s an aspect of motorsports that’s really cool,” he says. Simply defined, it’s a technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing the rear wheels to lose traction and slide, while maintaining control of the car through a corner with precision and speed.
“It takes all of my resources and time,” he claims, “everything I have to give to it. I actually organize the only drift event on Long Island. Me and a friend of mine, we run the drift events there. And it's a lot of racing on track, building the track cars to get better at drifting and driving.”
Demetri jokingly says his only perennial problem is one most likely shared with fellow car enthusiasts: “Not enough garages [for his truck, two late- ‘80s, early- ‘90s BMWs and a ‘90s Mazda Miata]. Never enough space, never enough time!”