SMART’s Distinguished speakers

Biography

Kevin Clemens, award winning author and adventurer, has driven north of the Arctic Circle in the dead of winter, across the searing deserts of China and the desolation of Mongolia in the heat of summer, through the perils in the republics of the former Soviet Union, in 45 foreign countries and all fifty states. Clemens has been a part of the automotive industry for more than 25 years. Trained as an engineer, he worked as a research scientist, designer of racing and sports car tires and public relations counselor before becoming a freelance editor and contributor at some of the industry's most influential automotive enthusiast and general interest magazines. He has written more than 450 feature stories and columns about everything from racing vintage sports cars to the most sophisticated automotive technologies and is the author of six books.

In 2007-2008, Clemens was named a Knight Wallace Journalism Fellow and the Ford Fellow for Transportation reporting at the University of Michigan. This eight month Fellowship has provided him with access to the enormous resources of the University of Michigan and the scientists and engineers in nearby Detroit as he researches alternative fuels and vehicle technologies as solutions to the country’s looming energy and environmental problems.

When not on an automotive adventure to the corners of the globe, or living the life of an academic in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Clemens lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, with his wife and a pair of Australian Shepherds, one of which has been certified for wilderness search and rescue.

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