Alumni Spotlight: Philip Castoro, MS ’06

Earning a master’s degree is no small feat, and doing so while working a full-time job is another accomplishment all on its own. Philip Castoro, MS ’06, has always had a passion for engineering and understands the importance that his academic career has had on his life.

After graduating from Clarkson University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Castoro began working at Universal Instruments in Conklin, N.Y. He started his career as an entry-level engineer and advanced into a lead engineer role while attending Binghamton University for his master’s degree in mechanical engineering.

In 2005, Castoro moved to Shekou, China, to manage a team of engineers while still pursuing his master’s. When he returned, he became a technical manager and project manager, where he guided the development programs for many products in Universal’s product portfolio. He was promoted in 2017 to engineering product manager for Uflex and automation solutions. He became director of platform engineering in 2020, responsible for all hardware development; in 2021, he took the reins as vice president of Universal’s engineering organization.

QUESTION: How did you first get into mechanical engineering?

ANSWER: A lot of engineers will typically do things on the side that are related to what their job will end up being later on. I grew up on Long Island where my family owns a machine shop, which was started by my father. Machine shops are highly mechanical in nature. So, for me, I grew up in a technical family, and I just knew I wanted to pursue a career in engineering.

Q: Why did you decide to pursue a master’s degree at Binghamton?

A: I went for my master’s because I felt it would better position me to grow my career and enhance the skills that I had gained with an undergraduate degree. Binghamton University was right up the street from where I was working, so that made it pretty easy.

Q: What were your experiences like at Watson College?

A: Watson is a little different when you work while you pursue a degree versus solely working on your education. There were two other guys from Universal doing the same thing as me — we were in it together. We had some good professors, we worked hard and we got our degrees. It took a while with work because we only took one class per semester, but I was happy with my experience. It’s nice to see how much the place has grown — it’s much different now than when I was there.

Q: Did you find it difficult to be working while you were pursuing a graduate degree?

A: Yeah, it’s a double-edged sword. It was difficult because you have to manage your time, trying to balance your career and trying to grow your education as well. At times, it got tough, but you work your way through it. At the same time, this company allowed me to use a lot of what I was learning, which helped me understand how to apply it.

Q: Did you always plan on permanently living here? Or did you think you would go back to Long Island?

A: I had sort of a three-year plan. I was going to work at Universal, get some knowledge, and then move back and work in my family business, which has since grown significantly. But I always wanted to make my own way — my father had done that, and I always admired him for it. What we do at Universal is very exciting, and I still get to be hands-on given the position that I have. I’ve always enjoyed working here. I’ve gone places I never thought I would and lived in places I thought I would never live in, so it’s been pretty exciting. My plan was to go back to Long Island, but I continued with this job, got married and had a couple of kids.

Q: How does Universal help current Watson students through internships and other opportunities?

A: We have a good co-op program. It’s not just with Binghamton University — we will go to any school that’s looking to have a co-op program within engineering. This program is beneficial for everybody, because the students get experience in applying what they’ve learned. We also have the Advanced Processing Lab, which is highly interactive with Binghamton University, working with students and doing lab-type work. Within my group, we also will work with Binghamton University to help us model and test various aspects of our equipment. Occasionally, we will invite students here and show them around just to give them the experience, and we’ve hired many Binghamton grads. In fact, our previous VP of engineering is also a Binghamton alum.

Q: In what ways do you think Binghamton helped prepare you for your career?

A: When you pursue a master’s degree, it hones the skills that you’ve learned in your undergraduate degree. Regardless of the specific field of study, engineers essentially solve technical problems. The problems you solve in a graduate program are more difficult than undergrad, and so you further refine this skill, which better prepares you for the future. Working as an engineer, I utilized the skills that I learned in my classes.

On the personal growth side, it helped me manage my time and push forward. If you’re somebody who wants to excel in anything, it’s always going to get more demanding. Not every test had the greatest outcome, but I learned how to work hard and continue to work hard. There are many life lessons that will help you in your career as much, if not more than, the actual education that you get.

Q: What advice would you give other mechanical engineering students based on your experience?

A: One of the nice things about engineering is that it’s a great platform to expand upon, either technically or in other areas of business, whether you want to continue to be an engineer or expand outside of engineering. Engineers are problem-solvers and there will never be a shortage of problems to solve.

Those first couple of years after graduation, I wouldn’t worry so much about pay and benefits — worry more about the experience that you’re going to get. Hone those skills, because the first five to 10 years are your best opportunity to grow — they set you up for success. I wasn’t a manager when I graduated. I just focused on building a strong foundation that I could build off of. Find a place where you think you can learn and grow and make that your number-one priority — the rest will fall into place and likely be even greater once you’ve built that strong foundation.