Okay, I'm just playing art scene profiler.
I'm guessing he was a grad student at the time. Why?
1. He seems about grad student age.
2. He's in a full machining shop (with loading dock and extra electricity), probably not his, but the university's.
3. The inconsistent quality of the photos leads me to think a photo student colleague took the photos since, at the time, he couldn't afford a professional product shoot.
4. The piece has hours and hours of machining, probably took the bulk of a two-year program. It left no time to make anything else, so he has just the one piece with maybe a couple studies on the shelf.
5. I'll bet he looked for a job as a junior sculpture professor, but it's difficult to market yourself on one piece, not enough work for solo shows.
6. For job hunting, he has one great, but narrow skill set. Hopefully he has a sparkling personality.
7. Perhaps someone offered him something like $800 for the piece. Of course he couldn't give it up, so he still has the piece in his possession.
8. He can at least submit images to group shows for emerging artists; although, the piece isn't that brainy and will likely be overlooked by most curators.
9. He's gained 25 pounds since that photo and finding him would be a damn miracle.

Gawd, I hope the kid's alright.