Colin Escobar

Background

Colin Escobar is on the faculty of the Department of Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering and holds a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. Before Porter, Colin managed production for a metal-fabrication company.

Colin's research focuses on facilities and systems design, with related work in lean and operations; undergraduates are involved in the lab most terms.

Areas of expertise

• Facilities and systems design
• Lean and operations
• Undergraduate research and project mentoring

Teaching

Colin regularly teaches courses in Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, Engineering Technology. Specific sections and syllabi are listed in the class schedule each term.

Courses lean on current problems from the field: students read recent work, reproduce a result or method, and then extend it. Colin builds in low-stakes practice before graded work and gives written feedback on drafts.

Advising and office hours

Colin advises students in the Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering programs and holds weekly office hours during the fall and spring terms, posted on the office door and in the course pages. Prospective students are welcome to email to arrange a visit or a call.

Advising conversations usually cover course sequencing, whether to add a minor or a concentration, and how classroom work connects to internships, research, or graduate study. Students who are undecided are welcome; part of the job is helping them narrow things down.

Recent and representative work

Colin's recent activity is a mix of peer-reviewed work, conference talks, and student-involved projects in facilities and systems design and lean and operations. Representative items:

• A peer-reviewed article on facilities and systems design in a disciplinary journal.
• A conference paper on lean and operations, co-authored with an undergraduate researcher.
• An internally funded project applying facilities and systems design to a regional partner's problem.

Titles and venues here are illustrative. UW–Porter Falls is fictional; Colin has no real publication record.

Get in touch

The fastest way to reach Colin is email (cescobar@uwporterfalls.edu); messages during the fall and spring terms are usually answered within two business days. Prospective students and families can ask the Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering department office to set up a call, a class visit, or a meeting during an admitted-student day.