Speakers

Dr. Ron Kennedy served as the Managing Director of the Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe), an industry/university consortium involving Virginia Tech, The University of Akron, and tire and tire-related companies. Before joining CenTiRe, he worked for 37 years in the tire industry at Firestone, Bridgestone/Firestone, and Hankook Tire performing tire finite element methods development and software programming, simulation systems development, advanced tire design, and tire factory uniformity studies. His work has covered the range of tire performance areas, manufacturing, and design. Dr. Kennedy is currently an Associate Editor of the Journal of Tire Science and Technology. He has numerous technical publications and presentations and has been awarded the Arch T. Colwell Merit Award from SAE, the Tire Society Superior Paper Award and an Honorable Mention Award, the CEO Award and President’s Award from Bridgestone/Firestone. Dr. Kennedy was the Plenary Speaker at the 2017 Tire Society Conference and gave the Keynote Address at the 2018 ACS Rubber Division Meeting. Ronald Kennedy received his BS and MS degrees in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Akron.