Inducted
April 27, 2018
Degrees
- BSEE 1994 West Virginia University
- BSCpE 1994 West Virginia University
- MSEE 1997 West Virginia University
- PhD 1999 West Virginia University
Dr. William R. Cawthorne, a native of Wellsburg, West Virginia, earned four degrees from West Virginia University: BSEE 1994, BSCpE 1994, MSEE 1997, and PhD 1999. After graduating from WVU, Bill went on to work for the Allison Transmission Division of General Motors (GM) where he designed, developed, and tested control systems for heavy duty hybrid electric vehicles, including transit and coach buses and trucks.
In 2003, he transferred to southeast Michigan to work on electrified passenger vehicles for General Motors. In his career with GM, Bill has been involved with nearly every electrified product General Motors has put into production including the Two-Mode Chevy Tahoe, the Chevy Volt, and the Chevy Bolt. During his career, he has held many positions including: Team Leader, Software Strategist, Software Design Leader, Controls Architect, Propulsion Systems Controller Architecture Team Member, Engineering Group Manager of Electrification Controls System Engineering and Architecture, and Engineering Group Manager of Electrification New Product Control Systems Engineering.
Bill is currently the Senior Manager for Global Transmission and Electrification Advanced Engineering for General Motors Global Propulsion Systems and is the lead member of the GM Global Propulsion Systems Electrification Intellectual Property Review Board.
During his career, Bill has been granted over 65 US Patents. He is a two-time winner of the Boss Kettering award which is GM's highest award for recognizing technical inventions and innovations. Bill won the award for the Two-Mode Hybrid Core Control System (2005) and the Two-Mode, Four-Gear Hybrid Transmission Control System (2007). He also earned a Chairman's Honors award as a member of the Full-Size Truck Two-Mode Hybrid Team (2007).
Bill has worked with WVU's EcoCAR3 project and served as the Team Mentor since 2014. Bill can be found on campus regularly working with the student competition team. His contribution to the WVU EcoCAR project has been invaluable to student learning and the strong competition finishes by the team.