Dr. David E. Cole is Chairman Emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Chairman of Auto Harvest and Chair of Building America’s Tomorrow (BAT).  He was formerly Director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT) at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and an engineering professor at the University of Michigan.  

 

Dr. Cole's recent research has focused on strategic issues related to the restructuring of the international industry and trends in globalization, technology, market factors, and human resource requirements.  He is chair of Auto Harvest, a new organization to facilitate the flow of intellectual property in and out of the auto industry.  Building America’s Tomorrow is helping recruit K-12 students to pursue careers related to manufacturing.

 

He is active in SAE, having served two terms on the Board of Directors and was named an SAE Fellow in 1986.  Equally active in the Engineering Society of Detroit, he was to Fellow status in 1990.  In 2000, he received the Engineering Society’s highest award, the Horace H. Rackham Medal. 

He is also a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and in 2009 elected to Fellow grade.  He was elected to the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2014.

 

Dr. Cole received his BSME in Mathematics, MSME, and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and recently received an honorary doctorate from Cleary University.