As a professor of practice in industrial wood construction, Steven Collins is committed to developing scientific knowledge and fostering innovation, which benefits the wood construction industry. His research focuses on the mechanical behavior of structural timber and on characterizing the material properties of underutilized wood resources. He is drawn to this field by the enduring appeal of wood — a natural material whose mechanical performance, refined over millennia, makes it uniquely suited to sustainable structural applications.

He has been deeply involved in hands-on laboratory work, conducting both destructive and non-destructive testing. By applying statistical analysis, he explores the relationships between material growth characteristics and mechanical properties to develop predictive models for wood materials, with an emphasis on uncertainty quantification.

His research at Aalto University continues with the aim of improving the efficiency and reliability of wood construction and finding value-added solutions that help realize the potential of wood as a crucial material in our transforming society.

Summary of Research Focus:

• Characterization of underutilized timber: mechanical testing, modelling, and statistical representation (birch, recycled wood)

• Non-destructive testing techniques: laser scattering and grain orientation analysis, defect detection, digital image correlation

• Statistical and Bayesian approaches: probabilistic modelling of material properties

• Sustainable construction: wood product optimization and efficient wood structures