Prof. Giorgio Rizzoni
Giorgio Rizzoni, the Ford Motor Company Chair in ElectroMechanical Systems, is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University (OSU). He received his B.S. (ECE) in 1980, his M.S. (ECE) in 1982, his Ph.D. (ECE) in 1986, all from the University of Michigan. Since 1999 he has been the director of the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research (CAR), an interdisciplinary university research center in the OSU College of Engineering. His research activities are related to modeling, control and diagnosis of advanced propulsion systems, vehicle fault diagnosis and prognosis, electrified powertrains and energy storage systems, vehicle autonomy, safety and intelligence, and sustainable mobility. He has contributed to the development of graduate curricula in these areas, and has served as the director of three U.S. Department of Energy Graduate Automotive Technology Education Centers of Excellence: Hybrid Drivetrains and Control Systems (1998-2004), Advanced Propulsion Systems (2005-2011), and Energy Efficient Vehicles for Sustainable Mobility (2011-2016). Between 2011 and 2016 he served as the OSU Site Director for the U.S. Department of Energy China-USA Clean Energy Research Center - Clean Vehicles. He is currently leading an ARPA-E project in the NEXTCAR program with the aim of advancing energy efficiency in connected and automated vehicles. During his career at Ohio State, Prof. Rizzoni has directed externally sponsored research projects funded by major government agencies and by the automotive industry in approximately equal proportion. Prof. Rizzoni has to date advised 45 PhD and 110 MS students, is a Fellow of IEEE (2004, Life Fellow 2023), SAE (2005), and ASME (2022), a recipient of the 1991 National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and of many other technical and teaching awards.
The OSU Center for Automotive Research, CAR, is an interdisciplinary research center in the OSU College of Engineering founded in 1991 and located in a 60,000 ft2 building complex on the west campus of OSU. CAR conducts interdisciplinary research in collaboration with the OSU colleges of Engineering, Medicine, Business, Public Affairs, and Arts and Sciences, and with industry and government partners. CAR research aims to: develop efficient vehicle propulsion and energy storage systems; develop new sustainable mobility concepts; reduce the impact of vehicles on the environment; improve vehicle safety and reduce occupant and pedestrian injuries; increase vehicle autonomy and intelligence; and create quieter and more comfortable automobiles. A team of 45 administrative and research staff supports over 60 faculty, 120 graduate and 300 undergraduate students, and maintains and makes use of advanced experimental facilities. Dr. Rizzoni has led CAR for over 20 years, growing its annual research expenditures from $1M per year to nearly $20M today, and engaging CAR in a broad range of technology commercialization activities, start-up company incubation and spin-out as well as providing a broad range of engineering services to the automotive industry. CAR is also the home of the OSU Motorsports program, which supports the activities of 7 student vehicle competition programs: the Buckeye Bullet (holder of FIA electric vehicle land speed records in excess of 300 mi/h), EcoCAR EV Challenge Team, FSAE, Baja SAE, Buckeye Current Electric Motorcycle Racing Team, SAE AutoDrive Challenge II, and Buckeye Solar Car Team.