Dr. McCollum is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University in 2015 where she studied metal particle manipulation via surface chemistry or strain manipulation to alter burning behavior. In 2016, Dr. McCollum completed a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at the US Air Force Academy's Chemistry Research Center studying polymer chemistry and processing before joining the faculty at UCCS in the fall of 2016.