SMART people

What inspires me about SMART:

As a past auto industry researcher, I have a strong interest in Sustainable Personal Mobility. As a co-initiator (with Carl Simon and Tom Gladwin) of the SMART group, I have an ardent interest in seeing that the effort is successful. I am a strong believer in the power of the “systems view” to affect change.

Biography:

John Sullivan received a Ph.D. from the State University of New York in Physical Chemistry. His thesis topic: Experimental Studies in Rubber-like Elasticity. After completing his degree, he was a Post Doctoral Scholar at the Macromolecular Research Institute at the University of Michigan. In 1976, he joined the Polymer Science Department at the Scientific Re¬search Laboratories at Ford Motor Company. Before retiring from Ford, he was a member of the Physical and Environmental Science Department of Ford Research and led the Sustainability Science Program there.

Sullivan’s research accomplishments are in a number of areas including:

- Molecular mechanics of polymer mechanical behavior
- Viscoelasticity of plastics and composites
- Non-linear viscoelasticity of rubber
- Automated photomechanics
- Recycling of automotive materials
- Life Cycle Environmental Assessments
- Advance Vehicle Safety
- Agent Based Modeling
- Biofuels

Some of his other professional activities include: Chairman of the Ford Worldwide Life Cycle Assess¬ment Team, Chairman of the USAMP/LCA Special Topics Group, member of the Executive Board of the Society of Experimental Mechanics, member of the Life Cycle Assess¬ment Advisory Board of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and co-lead of University of Michigan’s Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility Program.

I have a strong interest in application of the systems view to determine what it takes to make personal mobility more sustainable.

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