Established in 1978, the Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation recognizes an SAE International member whose innovative design is described in an SAE International paper or whose lifetime of accomplishment is judged to be a significant achievement in automotive engineering. Judgment is based upon the value of the work as an original innovative contribution, not upon the application of some development or invention already known. The award honors the memory of Edward N. Cole, former president and Chief Operating Officer of General Motors Corporation, and the inspiration he provided to others in the engineering profession by his continuing search and drive for product innovation.
“Receiving the Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation was one of the greatest honors of my professional life. To be recognized by SAE for a lifetime of automotive engineering innovation and to receive so many good wishes from colleagues and friends was heartwarming and inspiring at the same time”, Poulos said. “I’m very grateful for the leaders who nominated me and for the extraordinary opportunities I have been given throughout my career in engineering to help bring innovative electrified propulsion systems to market, he added.
Poulos joined General Motors in 1982 as an Engine Researcher in the GM Research Laboratories. After nine years he moved to an advanced engineering team developing concept hybrid vehicles. There he led programs that demonstrated an electric AWD hybrid minivan as well as an automotive flywheel energy storage system in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Poulos also led the SAE industry / government task force that developed the now widely used J1711 recommended practice for exhaust emissions and fuel economy testing of hybrid vehicles.
Poulos was later appointed Powertrain Chief Engineer for the Silverado/Sierra Hybrid full-size pickup, which was introduced in 2004 as the first light-duty hybrid from a North American OEM. Since then he has been a key architect and pioneer of mild hybrid technology for GM and the industry for over 15 years, leading the engineering teams that brought to production three generations of GM belt-alternator-starter mild hybrid systems for North America, China, and Korea.
More recently Poulos served as Propulsion Chief Engineer at GM for the Chevrolet Spark EV and for the ground-breaking Chevrolet Bolt EV, the world’s first affordable long-range battery electric vehicle. He currently leads GM’s product engineering team developing an automotive fuel cell system in collaboration with Honda.
Poulos is an SAE member and author of six SAE papers, recipient of three other SAE awards, and inventor on four U.S. patents.
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Stephen Poulos (right) poses with SAE President Mircea Gradu, PhD Continue reading »