David E. Cole is Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), a nonprofit organization focused on a wide variety of important trends and changes related to the automobile industry and society at the international, federal, state, and local levels.
Cole was appointed to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Executive Committee in 2002.
Cole was formerly director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT) at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. He has worked extensively on internal combustion engines, vehicle design, and overall automotive industry trends. His recent research has focused on strategic issues related to the restructuring of the North American industry and trends in globalization, technology, market factors, and human resource requirements. Cole received his B.S.M.E., M.S.M.E. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Cole is active in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Engineering Society of Detroit, and was elected to fellow status of both organizations in 1986 and 1990, respectively. He is a director of the Automotive Hall of Fame, Original Equipment Suppliers Association, and Digital Detroit. He also serves as a director of six automotive supplier companies and is on the board of trustees of Hope College.
In 2000, Cole received the Engineering Society’s highest award, the Horace H. Rackham medal, and in 1999, the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit from France. He was named Marketing Educator of the Year by the Society of Marketing Executives in 1998, and received the Rene Dubos Environmental Award for his contributions to the industrial ecology of the automobile. He was named one of eight engineering leaders in 1994 by Design News, and was selected to receive Sweden's Order of the Polar Star. In 1993, he received the National Automobile Dealers Association Foundation's International Freedom of Mobility Award.