Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has established the Lance R. Collins Fellowship created to support engineering graduate students from traditionally underrepresented populations. The scholarship program honors Lance R. Collins who for years was the Joseph Silbert Dean of the College of Engineering at Cornell.
Alumni of the College of Engineering contributed funds to create the fellowship program. “Cornell’s diversity efforts lead the nation,” Dr. Collins said, “I am incredibly proud of the fact that the engineering alumni chose this way to recognize my contribution to those efforts. I look forward to meeting the fellowship awardees in the future and offering my services as a mentor to those who are interested. This is a legacy that I will cherish forever.”
Earlier this year, Dr. Collins was named the inaugural vice president and executive director of Virginia Tech’s new Innovation Campus in Alexandria, Virginia. He began his new job on August 1.
Dr. Collins was appointed the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering at Cornell University in 2010. He was the first African American dean at Cornell and was a key member of the leadership team that successfully bid to partner with New York City to build Cornell Tech, which opened its Roosevelt Island campus in 2017. Before becoming dean in 2010, Dr. Collins served as the S. C. Thomas Sze Director of the Sibley School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Cornell. He joined the faculty at Cornell in 2002. Earlier he was a professor of chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Collins is a graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey. He earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
