麻豆果冻传媒

 

Trevon Collins of Smyrna, Tenn., first found his passion for mechanical engineering in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) class in middle school. That love only grew when he joined the school robotics team in the eighth grade.

鈥淏oth the overarching machine design process and regional competition scene calcified my interest in the engineering field, and during the summer before I started high school, I did some research on each discipline and chose mechanical engineering as it seemed to have the most flexible career options,鈥� he said.

When it came time to choose a university, Collins was drawn to the friendliness of faculty and students at Tech, especially the Intercultural Affairs Department. He specifically recalls meeting Charria Campbell, Ph.D., Intercultural Affairs director; Harry Ingle, Ph.D., executive director of Student Affairs; and Robert Owens, Ph.D.,senior executive for Access, Belonging and Community Outreach; and learning about the Reaching Achievement and to Excellence Program (RACE).

鈥淚 also met the College of Engineering Dean Dr. Joseph Slater, who promoted major-related spaces like Brown Hall and the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) workshop under Tucker Stadium,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he conversations I had in those respective areas shortly thereafter offered me complementary insight into the academic and technical opportunities at Tech, essentially confirming my college choice then and there.鈥�

Scholarships played a significant role in making Collins' college education possible.

"The ample generosity of the Financial Aid Department and College of Engineering played an instrumental role in my ability to afford college," he said. 鈥淚t enabled me to fulfill the promise that I made to myself during high school to subsidize my pursuit of higher education without exceptional financial dependence on my parents, both of whom have poured abundantly into my development.鈥�

During his first year, Collins struggled with time management and balancing his responsibilities. There were myriad setbacks that he faced, however he leveraged these adversities as steppingstones to navigating the university environment, ultimately making the Dean鈥檚 List both semesters of his freshman term.

"Collectively, these moments of maturation have brought me to where I am now 鈥� serving in multiple leadership positions, maintaining several on-campus jobs, and rebuilding my faith, upon which all my successes have been based," he said.

Now that he has found his footing, Collins keeps a busy but balanced schedule. He is the parliamentarian for the Tech chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, the Engineering Joint Council representative and competition chair for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, an honors research coordinator assistant for the Tech Honors Fellowship Program, a RACE Plus member for the Intercultural Affairs Department, a physics tutor, a Ron Brown captain for the Ruth & Norman Rales Leaders Network, and an active member of both the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and Kainos Church.

Collins has also gained valuable research experience as an undergraduate in collaboration with Daniel Yoon, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering, working on applications of Hidden Markov Models for Computational Fluid Dynamics 鈥� tools that use patterns in data to help predict how fluids will move, making it easier to understand and simulate complex fluid behavior. He primarily focused on reviewing academic literature, setting up software and planning research, and now he has been hired on as a research assistant.

鈥淯sing the knowledge I have developed over the past year, I will be working in conjunction with some graduate students here at Tech to generate a paper outlining a validation framework for machine learning reinforced landing systems in autonomous aerial vehicles,鈥� he said.

Over last summer, Collins also interned for Schneider Electric at a circuit breaker manufacturing plant in his hometown. At first, he admits he was hesitant as the focus of the position seemed to not line up exactly with his career goals; however, he was pleasantly surprised.

鈥淢y experience defied my expectations entirely,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n addition to marginal application of concepts from my degree path like performing measurements and reviewing C.A.D. drawings, I learned numerous competencies pertaining to quality control such as Lean Six Sigma, work instruction creation, layered auditing, digital inventory management, prescriptive data analysis, Kanban principles and smart tool configuration. Moreover, I participated in a virtual workshop series that explored career development, internal professional resources, AI literacy, sustainable policy and more.鈥�

Looking ahead, Collins plans to go on to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in mechanical engineering, and continue on to earn his Ph.D. His ultimate goal is to become a mechanical design engineer, preferably with an emphasis in material optimization. He also hopes to publish research on environmentally sensible practices in the automation industry as well as stay connected with 麻豆果冻传媒 as a member of the Tech Alumni Association.

"I intend to do everything in my scholastic ability to live up to the expectations that have conferred me this monumental blessing," he said.