1995 Lemelson-MIT Prize Winner

Photo courtesy of General Motors Co.

Helping his father repair engines and fix old cars as a child growing up in Flint, Mich., drove William Bolander to success.  Joining the General Motors team as an adult, he helped improve passenger safety and automotive performance, most notably through his limp-home technology and a traction control system. In 1995, Bolander was named the first $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize recipient for excellence in creativity, invention and innovation.

As a developer of logical and mathematical models for computers responsible for fuel injection, ignition timing, and transmission operations, Bolander has been instrumental in keeping the American automotive industry on the cutting edge. He manipulated computerized engine and transmission controls to develop a low-cost traction control system for Saturn cars. He also later incorporated his college thesis design for limp-home technology into the Cadillac Northstar. This design reduced the number of cylinders running at any one time to minimize engine damage when coolant is lost.

Bolander's innovations also include several diagnostic and engine control sensor systems, and a coast-sync-coast downshift control method for clutch-to-clutch transmission shifting, which he notes, "...really now seems simple, but a lot of times...solutions to problems can be simple ideas."

Born in Rollo, Mo., (1960), Bolander earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical and electrical engineering from General Motors Institute, today Kettering University (1983). Through a GM fellowship to Purdue University, he acquired a master's degree in mechanical engineering (1984). Bolander accelerated to the top of General Motors since he started his career there in 1983 as a member of the Advanced Engineering Staff; he is currently a GM Technical Fellow responsible for GM Powertrain Controls Processes. The author of 16 patents, Bolander has received an unprecedented four "Boss" Kettering Awards-GM's most prestigious honor.

Acknowledging the effectiveness of teamwork, Bolander says, "While I have been able to contribute significantly to many different things, I am only part of a very talented team."