Rick Holmes loves a mind-boggling problem.

"When I get a phone call from someone who says, 'I've tried this, I've tried that, nothing has worked, and you're my last hope,' " Holmes said, "now that's a great challenge."

As chief engineer in the Media Systems Design Department of the Office of Instructional Development (OID), Holmes, working with his staff of two, designs, fabricates, installs and maintains a campuswide network of media classrooms equipped with DVD and video players, cameras, monitors, audio setups, lighting systems and computers logged onto the campus network and the Web -- everything an instructor might need to deliver a state-of-the-art lecture.

His forte is problem-solving, which includes everything from overcoming incompatibilities between complex pieces of equipment to fixing computer network problems, all while keeping apace with ever-evolving technology within a tight budget.

Holmes' hands-on helpfulness was applauded at a May 29 ceremony at the Faculty Center, when he received this year's Staff Assembly Excellence in Service Award. A standing-room-only crowd cheered when Chancellor Albert Carnesale presented him with a plaque and a $5,000 check.

"It was a total surprise," said Holmes, nominated for the award by colleagues.

A self-described "motion-picture brat" -- family members worked in the technical end of the business -- Holmes spent many a childhood Saturday on the 20th

While a student at North Hollywood High School, he took an entry-level engineering job at NBC-TV; on weekends, he immersed himself in learning about hardware at manufacturer seminars.

In 1967, Holmes joined UCLA as an engineer for the departments that predated the School of Theater, Film and Television. Twelve years later, while considering a move to 20th-Century Fox, he was invited by OID to make classrooms technology-friendly.

"Even though the pay was not nearly as good as Fox, this sounded much more interesting," he recalled. At the time, educational technology didn't really exist as a field, and just utilizing slide projectors and overheads "was like pulling teeth to get anything to happening in the classroom," he said. Today, UCLA is a leader in the use of instructional media.

At home in North Hollywood, Holmes enjoys spending time with his partner of 18 years, Rafael Ortiz, who works at Universal Studios. One of their favorite pastimes is taking road trips through the American Southwest. But wherever Holmes goes, work is never far afield -- even when he takes 15-mile hikes in the northeast San Fernando Valley on weekends.

"A lot of these walks are brainstorming sessions for me, thinking about a particular problem," he said. "I keep a pad of paper in the car and when I get back, everything in my brain I will dump out onto it."