Clemson Nabs Top Leader For Auto Project

The new director of Clemson's automotive research center drives a minivan, but Robert Geolas does not recall how many pistons it packs. Geolas, a North Carolina State grad, said his Honda CRV was built in 1991. Or was that 1992? His wife once told him he did not have enough automotive experience to change a tire. "I hope they didn't hire me to be an automotive expert," Geolas said. But Geolas said there are plenty at Clemson. He said the university has automotive engineering talent and the vision to build a graduate program designed to attract research and higher-paying jobs to South Carolina.

From Biloxi Sun Herald

COLUMBIA, SC — The new director of Clemson’s automotive research center drives a minivan, but Robert Geolas does not recall how many pistons it packs.

Geolas, a North Carolina State grad, said his Honda CRV was built in 1991. Or was that 1992? His wife once told him he did not have enough automotive experience to change a tire.

“I hope they didn’t hire me to be an automotive expert,” Geolas said.

But Geolas said there are plenty at Clemson. He said the university has automotive engineering talent and the vision to build a graduate program designed to attract research and higher-paying jobs to South Carolina.

Clemson was fortunate to recruit him, said Chris Przirembel, the university’s vice president for research and a leader in the automotive research program. Clemson broke ground in November at the 400-acre park in Greenville. It is expected to cost about $106 million and is expected to receive about $69 million from the state.

“Bob Geolas is the recognized world-class leader in the development of a research campus based on public-private partnerships,” Przirembel said. “A world-class project requires a world-class leader.”

Geolas is moving from Raleigh, where he held a similar position at the 1,334-acre Centennial Campus at N.C. State. He started there nine years ago as the equivalent of a sales agent, recruiting new tenants doing research for products ranging from drugs to computer software.

Back then, Geolas knowledge of emerging scientific fields such as nanoscience was tiny, and he knew only a byte or two about computers.

Geolas learned enough to help the campus become home to more than 70 tenants by 2000, when he became its coordinator. In the last four years, the campus has lost more than 10 tenants, many of them small new companies that folded after the dot-com bust of 2000. But in an area with 10 percent to 14 percent of its commercial space empty, Centennial’s vacancy rate stayed below 10 percent, he said.

At Clemson, Geolas said he will be able to help build a research center from scratch. “This is a great new opportunity for me.”

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