 | MONDAY, June 4, 2007, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM | Room: Ballroom 20ABC
TRACK: AUTOMOTIVE THEME
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| | KEYNOTE
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| | Designing a New Automotive DNA
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| | KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Lawrence D. Burns, Vice President of Research & Development and Strategic Planning, General Motors Corp.
The automotive industry stands on the threshold of a new opportunity - an opportunity that stems from the reinvention of the automobile using a new DNA that exchanges the internal combustion engine, petroleum, and mechanical linkages for fuel cells and batteries, hydrogen and electricity, and electronic systems and controls.
Electrically driven vehicles and the introduction of advanced electronics and connected vehicle technologies will revolutionize how our vehicles operate, how we interact with them, and how they communicate with each other and the outside world. These new technologies will also, importantly, dramatically change how automobiles are designed and built.
In this talk, Dr. Burns will highlight why the new automotive DNA will be paradigm shifting for the industry and address the design challenges and opportunities presented by the requirement for new electrical and electronics-based architectures, systems, and software for our vehicles.
Larry Burns is vice president of General Motors Research & Development and Strategic Planning. In this post, he oversees GM's advanced technology, innovation programs, and corporate strategy. He is a member of GM's Automotive Strategy Board and Automotive Product Board.
In addition to driving innovation into today's vehicles, Burns is championing GM's "reinvention" of the automobile around advanced propulsion, electronics, telematics, and materials technologies. The goal is to realize sustainable mobility with vehicles that are aspirational and affordable.
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Burns began his career in 1969 as a member of the Research & Development staff, where his research focused on transportation, logistics, and production systems. He subsequently held executive positions in several GM divisions in the areas of product program management, quality, production control, industrial engineering, and product and business planning. In May 1998, he was named a vice president of General Motors, with responsibility for R&D and Planning.
Burns holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He also has a master's degree in engineering/public policy from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University).
Burns is a member of the USCAR Operating Council and the FreedomCAR Partnership Executive Steering Committee. He serves on the University of Michigan's Automotive Research Center board and recently completed a six-year term on its College of Engineering National Advisory Council. In addition, he is a member of the Advisory Council for the University of California Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Midwest Research Institute. Burns also sits on the board of the University of Michigan Center for Hearing Disorders and is a member of the National Advisory Group for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology.
In 2000, Burns received Kettering University's Engineering Alumni Achievement Award for his contributions to the engineering profession. In 2002, the Deafness Research Foundation recognized him with its National Campaign for Hearing Health Leadership Award. In 2005, he was a member of a General Motors team awarded the Franz Edelman Award from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Burns is also the recipient of the 2005 Alumni Merit Award from the University of Michigan Industrial and Operations Engineering Department. He recently completed a two-year term as National Honorary Chairman for the MATHCOUNTS Foundation.
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| | Speaker(s): | Lawrence D. Burns - General Motors Corp., Warren, MI
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Keynote