GM and UW-Madison's Engine Research Center- A Cleaner Combination

November 4, 2002

General Motors Establishes Collaborative Research Laboratory At The University Of Wisconsin-Madison

MADISON, Wis. - General Motors Corp. will fund a $5 million collaborative research laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison over five years to help develop cleaner, more efficient diesel and gasoline engines.

UW-Madison's Engine Research Center (ERC) will use part of the funding to conduct extensive modeling of diesel exhaust after-treatment systems and diesel particulate emission traps. ERC researchers also will conduct experiments and three-dimensional simulations of advanced combustion processes for both diesel and gasoline engines leading to lower emissions and improved fuel economy.

The university's College of Engineering and GM announced the agreement today.

"The Engine Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a world-class educational and research institution," said Alan Taub, executive director of science laboratories at the GM Research and Development Center in Warren, Mich. "The center's outreach and perspective is globally focused, and consistent with GM's evolving global business environment."

"We see the ERC as a strategic partner in helping us further our research and development of cleaner, more efficient gasoline and diesel engines."

"In addition, many Wisconsin-Madison graduates have pursued careers at GM, and in GM Research & Development in particular," said Hazem Ezzat, director of the GM Powertrain Systems Research Lab.

"We're pleased that General Motors has chosen our Engine Research Center to become its latest collaborative research laboratory," said College of Engineering Dean Paul Peercy. "Our Engine Research Center has been conducting fundamental research on engines for more than half a century, and this partnership with General Motors will continue that tradition of cutting-edge research and technology transfer."

The ERC is one of only seven institutions worldwide to have received the prestigious designation from General Motors. The other institutions are at Brown University, the University of Michigan, Carnegie-Mellon University, Stanford University, Jiaotong University in Shanghai, China, and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.

"Being a strategic partner, GM envisions the ERC as an extension of GM Research & Development, and the relationship provides a focal point for joint research in areas that are core to GM's long-term competitiveness and commensurate with the scholarly expertise and intellectual pursuits of the university faculty," said Ezzat. "We look forward to achieving together significant milestones in advanced engine technologies and creating the fundamental knowledge upon which the future of internal combustion engines will be based," he added.

Half of the $5 million will go toward specific research contracted between the ERC and General Motors, according to David Foster, professor of mechanical engineering and principal investigator for this research. The remaining portion of the funding will go toward the ERC for its research initiatives as an unrestricted grant.

"There has been a long-running relationship between the Engine Research Center and General Motors," Foster said. "There will be a high degree of interaction between our faculty and students and General Motors' technical personnel."

General Motors , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, designs, builds and markets cars and trucks worldwide. In 2001, GM earned $1.5 billion on sales of $177.3 billion, excluding special items. It employs about 362,000 people globally. More information on General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.

The College's Engine Research Center is home to more than 80 faculty, staff, and students. It has been recognized as a U.S. Army Center of Excellence. See www.erc.wisc.edu for more information about the center and its research.