College of Engineering industry liaison connects partners and resources

DETROIT (Nov. 12, 2013) - The Wayne State University College of Engineering, partnering with WSU's Front Door, hired Industry Liaison Lori Simoes earlier this year to foster relationships with corporations that might benefit from college and university resources - and vice versa.

Simoes

Simoes, a strategic business development professional with experience in both industry and academia, hit the ground running.

"This role is very exciting to me," Simoes says. "Wayne State can provide remarkable resources to industry partners, from faculty research expertise and advanced laboratory testing and services to technologies available for license and student resources. Our ability to make a thoughtful and beneficial connection to the right corporations can greatly benefit all involved. And our location in Midtown puts us in the center of the action."

Echoes College of Engineering Dean Farshad Fotouhi, "The college partners with a great number of corporations, organizations and foundations to share resources, services and ideas. These collaborative partnerships spur innovation, help support our communities and result in great success. Lori will greatly enhance our efforts with industry."

According to Fotouhi, the college's research thrust areas - biomedical engineering, automotive safety, energy solutions, advanced materials and manufacturing, transportation, engine optimization, and big data - mirror growth trends in industry and will be areas of focus for Simoes moving forward.

"Our researchers are innovating technologies that our industry partners take right to the line or manufacturer. And our industry partners help us better prepare students for an ever-changing job market through internships and co-ops," he says.

Simoes will also focus her efforts on connecting industry partners with the co-curricular student experience at Wayne State.

"Industry partners can get involved in student team projects like EcoCAR 2 and Formula SAE and enhance the educational experience by contributing real-world challenges for students to solve in capstone senior design classes," she says.

Simoes most recently worked as a commercialization principal at Wayne State. Prior to that, she served as associate director of product marketing at Visteon, Corp. after a stint as associate sales director with Advanced Technology.

She earned a master's certificate in electric vehicle engineering and a master's in industrial engineering from Wayne State. She earned both a bachelor's in chemical engineering and a bachelor's in biochemistry from Michigan State University.

Simoes can be reached at lori.simoes@wayne.edu or 313-577-4029.

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Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students. For more information about engineering at Wayne State University, visit engineering.wayne.edu.

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