The next year, 1949, Rusten won an award for superior accomplishment for creating three pieces of equipment that better facilitated his laboratory work. The three equipment pieces were an operating block for holding laboratory animals, a rocker that agitates media in an incubator, and an inoculating block that facilitates intravenous inoculation of chickens.

In 1955, when the Division of Biologics Standards (DBS) was established, Rusten became a research technician in the Laboratory of Viral Immunology. The research technician position was normally held by college graduates, but because of Rusten’s strong devotion to medical research, his extreme interest in his work, and his great abilities which led to multiple promotions, he was able to fill this role without a bachelor’s degree.