On May 1st, George F. Halow was named Professor of Practice in Aerospace Engineering. Professor Halow has had a distinguished 31-year career at Ford Motor Company, where he held numerous positions as chief engineer of multiple vehicle lines (Expedition/Navigator, Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, Town Car, and Ranger) and several engineering leadership positions in automotive interiors and exteriors.
He possesses operational experience in product design, manufacturing, and business and technology strategy. Most recently, he served as manager of Global Investment Efficiency, helping to establish efficient plans for the investment of billions of dollars in new programs.
Professor Halow received his Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering with a focus in aerodynamics from the University of Maryland College Park, MD. He received his MBA from INSEAD (l’Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires) in Fontainebleau, France and his master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. George has also been a very active mentor and coach, both in industry (serving on multiple personnel development committees and special projects to enhance organizational competency) and in academia (serving as the Ford Executive Champion for University of Michigan Student Teams, and Ford lead recruiter for the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland). In addition, he has been a featured guest lecturer numerous times on multiple leadership subjects at the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, and Cornell University.
George is co-author of US (US6745151 B2) and German (DE10319493 A1) Patents for on-vehicle data acquisition, buffering, remote transmission, and analysis (2004).
Professor Halow will be establishing a sub-curriculum for leadership and professionalism within Aerospace Engineering, and will be comprised of key business skills of ethics and culture in engineering, building and sustaining effective teams, delivering the business side of technology and innovation, business case development, environmental and social responsibility, intellectual property management, and effective business communications.
First implementation of this comes in fall, 2019 with Aero 285, where he has taken the seminar series and structured it into a three-component class consisting of 1) the Aerospace Enterprise, 2) Leadership, Culture, and Communication, and 3) Careers in Aerospace. He will integrate new pedagogy with the guest lectures from industry leaders into a cohesive introduction to the Aerospace Enterprise. The course will also now be offered in both fall and winter terms, to allow more flexibility in the curriculum and for students to plan their sophomore year.
