As a technical leader at Ford Motor Company for 31 years, Jeffrey A. Cook established and directed powertrain control and embedded software research organizations at the Ford Research Laboratories in Dearborn, MI and the Ford Forschungszentrum laboratory in Aachen, Germany. Cook holds 54 worldwide patents and has authored 45 technical publications. He is recognized as a leading authority on engine control systems. His ongoing research and work have improved emissions and fuel economy in production vehicles and have laid the groundwork for further advances in gasoline powertrain control systems. 

Cook graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1973. He started his career as a design engineer for United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, CT. He was hired by the Ford Motor Company in 1976 to work in their Scientific Research Laboratory in Dearborn, MI. He went on to get a master’s degree in Electronic and Computer Control Systems from Wayne State University in 1985.  

Cook spent more than 30 years in the Ford Research Laboratory, holding both technical and managerial titles in the United States and Europe. He retired from Ford after 34 years of service in 2007. 

Since 2004, Cook has been a professor at the University of Michigan. He teaches courses in electrical engineering, computer science, naval architecture, and marine engineering.