Collin Wilkinson

In a nutshell, my job today entails being an educator and helping teach the next generation of glass scientists.  

When I was five years old, I wanted to be a professor.

Why I chose Penn State: I chose Penn State because of the people. My first visit to PSU was during my pre-graduate school visit. At the time I didn't realize Penn State had football, but what I did knew was they had John Mauro. I came to spend time with Mauro, but what I found was a cohort of other students who were like-minded and professors I wanted to learn from.

You might be surprised to know that: my most recent hobby is robotic gardening. I'm trying to build an automatic greenhouse that is capable of watering and controlling temperature.

When I think about my time at Penn State, my fondest memory is when I was a graduate student in the Mauro Group, we would periodically have group events. One of our outings was a grilled cheese competition at Mauro's home. We had almost twenty people make grilled cheese that ranged from brie and pears to literal grilled cheese. We spent the day eating and scientifically analyzing each other's grilled cheeses—Mauro's daughter won.

Words of wisdom to current students: Don't be scared to organize events. In engineering, I often find that students can be quite insular or shy. This shyness can lead to people being scared to ask others to do stuff with them, but if everyone is shy, they appreciate anyone willing to ask. The best thing you can do is to spend more time with your peers.