Mike Collins received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida in 2001.  While at UF he was involved in multiple research projects in fluid and thermal flow and separations, including a joint project with The Dow Chemical Company.  Additionally, he worked at the Engineering Research Center (ERC) in Gainesville, FL, a university-affiliated facility, where he helped develop a new separation technique at pilot plant scale for liquids and solids.

Upon graduation, Collins accepted a job with CEM Corporation as a Development Chemist / Project Engineer, where he focused on product development and worked in the chemistry lab performing analyses.  He worked at CEM for about 15 years, where he took on multiple roles in project management, product management, engineering, R&D, marketing, and business development.  He eventually served as the head of product development and strategic marketing for CEM, where he led the development of multiple new business initiatives and projects, which eventually led to the formation of a new business unit of CEM that became Lucidity.

In 2023 Collins was able to launch Lucidity as an independent company, and today he serves as the CEO of Lucidity, which is dedicated to developing analytical solutions based on trusted analytical techniques for a much broader audience by creating solutions that are much smaller, easier to use, and lower cost than the traditional solutions.