Steven W. Collins
Biographical Sketch
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Steven W. Collins is Associate Professor in the Program in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Bothell, where he has been a faculty member since 1993.  A political scientist specializing in comparative politics of East Asia and technology policy, Collins teaches courses on the history of technology, science and technology policy, and biotechnology and society, in addition to area studies courses on Japan and East Asia.  His research interests include the history of biotechnology, comparative bioethics and biotechnology policy, research and innovation policies in Japan and the United States, and innovation and entrepreneurship as a component of sustainable development.  As an NSF International Research Fellow, he spent 1997-98 in Japan, where he maintains active research collaborations.  He returned to Japan in 2003 as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow, studying university-industry relations and technology management at the Japan Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (JAIST).  More recent projects include a study of technology management in small and medium-sized firms in Ehime Prefecture, Japan, through a partnership with Ehime University, and a comparative study of regional life science clusters in Seattle and Kobe, Japan, in collaboration with Japan's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP).  His articles on science and technology policy have appeared in the Journal of Technology Transfer, Research Technology Management, and Industry & Higher Education.  He is author of the book The Race to Commercial Biotechnology, published by Routledge Press in 2004.

Collins earned the Ph.D. in Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia in 1994.  He made the shift to academia after a previous career at Philip Morris USA as a chemical engineer, having earned the B.S. (with Honors) from the University of Virginia's Department of Chemical Engineering in 1983.  He is a Life Member of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society.  As both an engineer and social scientist, he is committed to increasing scientific and technical literacy among non-scientists, both among his own students and the general public.   

With a strong commitment to public education in science and technology, Collins served on the Board of Trustees of the Washington Biotechnology Foundation from 1996 until 2003.  In the past, he assisted the Northwest Center for Emerging Technology (NWCET) with the development of skill standards in information technology.  As a Microsoft Faculty-Industry Fellow, he worked with NWCET and Microsoft in identifying IT skills and developing curricula to build them, work that contributed to the creation of the Program in Computing and Software Systems at UW Bothell.  His present goal is to make UW Bothell a center for innovative thinking and public outreach in entrepreneurship and innovation policy in the context of socially responsible, sustainable development.  His hobbies include model railroading, Japanese traditional arts and crafts, and polishing his Japanese language skills.