The Ohio State University

David Emerling is Industry Collaborations Director for The Ohio State University‘s (OSU) College of Engineering in Columbus, Ohio. At OSU, Emerling is responsible executing a broad strategy targeted at attracting industrial funding at OSU in the form of consortium membership fees, gifts, student scholarships, fellowships, and research programs.  Emerling joined CAR in November of 2008 as a consultant and joined OSU full time in June of 2009.

Prior to joining CAR, David Emerling was the Program Director for Microheat in Farmington Hills, Michigan. At Microheat, Emerling managed all the Ford programs that were about to launch with Microheat’s HotShot product. Before joining Microheat, Emerling worked at Lear Corporation for nearly 20 years as a program manager for General Motors interior programs, leading a team of engineers and designers.  In addition to program management, Emerling was previously the director of Advanced Engineering at Lear Donnelly before joining Lear’s Asian OEM Division as director of Technical Support.  Emerling was also the North American contact for Lear China and India.   Prior to Lear, he was a platform system integrator for the Electric/Electronic Department at General Motors in Warren, Mich.  Through employment with Lear and GM, Emerling has 28 years of automotive experience. 

Emerling earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.  He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, president and past board member of the Ohio State Alumni Club of Detroit and an advisory board member of the CAR Consortium at Ohio State University.  Emerling is also the recipient of seven patents, a member of the 2005-2006 National Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.