Dave Foss is the Assistant Director for IT Services in Research Lab of Electronics. RLE is MIT's oldest and most intellectually diverse interdisciplinary research lab, with 50 affiliated faculty, and hundreds of graduate students. Dave has been in charged of the lab's computational infrastructure for over 20 years.

Dave received nominations from a number of people representing diverse members of the community -- staff, students, Principle Investigators and faculty.

Dave's willingness to help in any way he can, even outside his formal job description, is invaluable to RLE. He is always looking for better ways to support Principle Investigators, and to make staff and administrative jobs easier. He is the consummate customer services representative, willing to help with issues large and small, from creating a new research cluster or replacing the infrastructure, to advice on which USB flash drive to buy. He'll stay late to help a research recover work from a failing computer, and he'll go to emeritus faculty's home to enable them to remain connected to the MIT community. He frequently puts in extra hours to ensure that everything is done and done properly. As one nominator put it, "His ability to make your problem the most important one when he is talking to you is a gift."

He is creates community by treating everyone from Faculty to UROP students the same kindness, respect, and responsiveness. To quote one nomination, "He never makes me feel that is above me or smarter than me, even though he is". He also works tirelessly to organize events for the headquarters to foster a warm and welcoming work environment. He collaborates with IT colleagues in many areas, and, because of the time he spends with the research community, he is probably better known by more people in RLE than anyone else in the headquarters organization.

He is always calm despite the crisis of the day. IT staff have credited his coaching for their ability to interact with people, and how to help them stay calm while solving their computer problems.

He is described as the ever patient teacher, always willing to coach and explain technology . He willingly shares his technical expertise, so others can grow. He has mentored students, some of whom have gone into similar careers, because of their interactions with Dave.

His MIT commitment and community spirit is one of the reasons why others remain at MIT.

He is known for his great sense of humor, and his love of challenges.

As one nominator summarized it, "I can't think of a single individual at MIT who has given as much of himself. He has set a standard for work ethic that I am overwhelmed by."