USC Glassblower Has Supported Lab Research
Phillip Sliwoski provides specialized glass apparatuses at the University of Southern California's Mudd Building.
Updated on Sept. 29, 2026 in Chemistry
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For 20 years, Phillip Sliwoski has served as an in-house scientific glassblower at the University of Southern California. He creates and repairs custom laboratory equipment, such as Schlenk lines, for researchers.
Why it matters
In-house glassblowing services offer faster construction and repair timelines for unique apparatuses that cannot be purchased through standard commercial catalogs. This support is vital for laboratory productivity.
Sliwoski has been blowing glass for 46 years and can construct a complex glass piece in approximately 3 hours. He uses annealing to relieve stress in the glass during construction.
The players
Phillip Sliwoski
He is a veteran scientific glassblower based at the University of Southern California.
Xiaojun Zhang
He is a professional who has worked with Sliwoski for 15 years.
University of Southern California
It is a private research university in Los Angeles that hosts the glassblowing workshop in the Mudd Building.
The details
Operating out of the Mudd Building, Sliwoski collaborates with researchers to design custom equipment that meets specific experimental requirements. He typically sketches designs on a whiteboard before heating and shaping the glass to finalize the construction.
Timeline
Sliwoski began blowing glass 46 years ago.
Sliwoski started his position at Dornsife College 20 years ago.
Xiaojun Zhang and Sliwoski have known each other for 15 years.
The Big Picture
This work is a critical component of the University of Southern California Dornsife College research infrastructure. It illustrates how specialized technical roles sustain advanced laboratory experimentation in modern academia.
The availability of in-house repair services significantly reduces downtime for researchers who rely on specialized glassware for their daily experiments. This capability ensures that custom-designed apparatuses are ready for laboratory use in hours rather than weeks.
The takeaway
The role of the scientific glassblower remains a highly skilled, niche necessity in modern chemical research. Expert manual craftsmanship continues to provide solutions for complex equipment needs that automated manufacturing cannot replace.
Further reading
Learn more about chemical research processes and tools in the Chemistry section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Daily Trojan.
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