Joseph D. Walter retired in 1999 as President and Managing Director of Bridgestone’s European Technical Center (Rome, Italy). Since then he has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Akron where he teaches courses in Vehicle Dynamics and basic mechanics in the College of Engineering. Before transferring to Europe in 1994, he served as Vice-President and Director of Research and Advanced Technology for Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. (Akron, Ohio). He began his career at the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. in 1966, holding a series of technical and management positions of increasing responsibility. His degrees include a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. and Ph. D. in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech with an M.B.A. from the University of Akron.
Dr. Walter has authored more than 35 journal articles, book chapters and published accounts on various aspects of tire mechanics, design, materials and testing. He has made more than 100 external presentations on these same subjects during the course of his 40 year professional career. In 2005, he co-edited and contributed three chapters to the book The Pneumatic Tire with a $90,000 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He is a founding member of the Tire Society and active in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) as well as the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society. Since 2001 he has presented two full day seminars several times per year on the subject of tire performance and safety (ACTAR accredited courses) under the auspices of SAE. He has served as a member of two committees of the prestigious US National Academies of Science: one on Fuel Efficiency of Automobiles and Light Trucks (1991-92), and the other on the National Tire Efficiency Study (2005-06). He has served on the Boards of the Edison Polymer Innovation Corporation (1990-1994) and Bridgestone Europe (1994-1999). Since 2006 he has been the international technical contributor for Tire Technology International, a British quarterly publication with a worldwide circulation. He currently presents tire technology seminars on timely topics in the US and internationally under the sponsorship of the University of Akron to a variety of automobile, tire and supplier organizations.