Dr. Scott Collingwood joined the Department of Pediatrics in 2009 in the capacity of Director, Environmental Monitoring for the University’s National Children’s Study (NCS) sites and as Assistant Professor. Today, Dr. Collingwood manages operational aspects, research and data collection associated with the NCS at both Salt Lake County and Cache County study sites. In the past two years, Dr. Collingwood has secured additional funding amounting to $2.15M from NIH for formative research aimed at informing the NCS.
Dr. Collingwood received his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa and worked in business and industry for a decade before returning to earn a PhD in Occupational & Environmental Health. His research and scholarly activities began in earnest at the University of Utah in 2005 when he joined the faculty at the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational & Environmental Health (DFPM)—a graduate training and research program. His research focuses on novel methods of exposure monitoring—specifically using direct reading instrumentation to provide accurate and real-time exposure estimates for airborne contaminants. In professional service, Dr. Collingwood is active nationally and locally serving in leadership and officer roles for the American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Mentoring Philosophy
A motivated student will have the opportunity for numerous research experiences when engaged with my project and staff. As an academic researcher that came to the university environment from business/industry, I appreciate a self-starter and problem solver. I aim to provide the vision and mission of the project in addition to the specific project related training to execute activities with the high degree of scientific and ethical rigor required of human and community-based participatory research. During training, there will the freedom to troubleshoot, problem solve, make mistakes and learn the activities needed to contribute and move our research forward. Mentees will have the opportunity to take these new skills and practice them, with support, in an actual research environment. Many activities are strictly spelled out in a definitive protocol and must be followed to the letter. Other activities are less stringent, not defined and our team would welcome a new perspective, input and innovation a fresh set of eyes may provide. A self-starter with the ability to communicate professionally and in order to get additional assistance/resources needed or coordinate the activities of others as it relates to their contributions will be necessary. The mentee will be exposed to all aspect of project operations—including stakeholder meetings with community members, in-home visits for data collection, laboratory operations for visit prep and post-visit activities etc., In between active training and project activities, the mentee will have a clear understanding of expectations, priorities and deliverables but will be left to them to manage time appropriately to achieve the interim milestones needed.