Bernhard elected to Cummins board of directors

Author: William G. Gilroy

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Robert J. Bernhard, vice president for research and professor of engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has been elected to the board of directors of Cummins Inc., a global engine manufacturing company based in Columbus, Ind.

Bobs engineering expertise, especially in automotive-related disciplines, is a perfect fit for Cummins as we work to maintain our standing as a technological leader in the diesel engine industry,Cummins chairman and chief executive officer Tim Solso said.We are looking forward to Bobs guidance and counsel on technical matters and other important issues that Cummins is going to face as it pursues its aggressive growth objectives in the years to come.

Bernhard becomes the 10th member of the Cummins board and will serve on the finance, governance and nominating and the safety, environment and technology committees.

Bernhard was appointed Notre Dames vice president for research in 2007 following a 25-year career as an engineering professor, researcher and associate vice president for research at Purdue University. He is one of the nations leading experts on noise control, with a focus on tire and traffic noise, numerical noise control design methods, noise source identification, active noise and vibration control, and machinery noise control applications.

Bernhard is a frequent consultant to industry and government and has had his research activities funded by more than a dozen corporations as well as NASA , the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration and the National Science Foundation.

A graduate of Iowa State University, Bernhard worked from 1973 to 1977 as an engineer with Westinghouse Electric Co. in Baltimore. At the same time, he worked on and earned his masters degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland. He returned to Iowa State in 1977 to pursue his doctorate and to serve on the engineering faculty as an assistant professor of freshman engineering.

After completing his doctoral studies, Bernhard joined the faculty of the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue in 1982. He has been affiliated with the Acoustics and Noise Control Research Program of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories at Purdue, and served as its director from 1994 to 2004. He was named director of the Institute for Safe, Quiet and Durable Highways in 1998 and served as Purdues associate vice president for research from 2004 to 2007.

Bernhard holds two patents and is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has been the secretary general of the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering since 2000, is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and was named a distinguished noise control engineer by the Institute of Noise Control Engineering in 2003.

Cummins Inc. is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems.

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