Seven Prominent Automotive Industry Leaders Will Judge Entries for the 2014 Altair Enlighten Award

TROY, MI--March 4, 2014: Altair today announced that an eminent group of industry leaders will serve as judges for the 2014 Altair Enlighten Award, the automotive industry's only award program created specifically to acknowledge innovations in vehicle lightweighting, essential to improving fuel economy and performance. In collaboration with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), Altair has created this award to recognize achievements in weight reduction across the automotive industry from motorcycles to passenger cars, light-trucks to commercial vehicles and buses.

The judging panel for the award program comprises the following industry leaders:

Dr. Jay Baron, President and CEO, Center for Automotive Research, Ann Arbor, Mich., and director of CAR's Coalition for Automotive Lightweighting Materials (CALM) A. Harvey Bell, Clinical Professor of Engineering Practice and Co-Director, Multidisciplinary Design Program at The University of Michigan Gary Latham, Director of Design Engineering at Pratt & Miller Engineering Dr. Imtiaz Haque, Founding Chair and Executive Director of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research Dr. Royston Jones, President of Altair ProductDesign Europe Dr. Clemens Schmitz-Justen, Founder and Head of Strategic Consulting, CSJ Schmitz-Justen & Company, former director of international programs at the Clemson University College of Business and Behavioral Science, and former president of BMW Manufacturing LLC in Spartanburg, S.C. Chris Theodore, President of Theodore & Associates automotive industry consulting; former CEO of ASC, Inc., vice president of Ford Motor Co. and senior vice president of DaimlerChrysler; and former executive director of North American advanced vehicle development at General Motors

"Entering its second year, the Enlighten Award will continue to focus on technologies currently being used by companies to address the critical goal of vehicle mass weight reduction and its integration into the manufacturing process," said Dr. Jay Baron of CAR. "The industry is drawing closer to the 2017-2018 mid-term review and the innovations and technologies that are being brought to light through this competition suggest practical approaches to effective mass reduction needed to meet stringent fuel economy regulations. CAR and our Coalition for Automotive Lightweighting Materials program is pleased to support and participate in this initiative."

Entry submissions may be made now through May 23, 2014 at Lighten Award. Finalists will be selected in June, with the winners announced in August at CAR's 2014 Management Briefing Seminars August 4-7 in Traverse City, Michigan.

"The 2013 Enlighten Award was a big success, attracting entries from original equipment manufacturers and suppliers from around the world," said David Mason, Vice President, Global Automotive for Altair. "We are very pleased to have such a distinguished and experienced group of automotive engineering and industry specialists on the judging panel. Based on last year's competition, our judges will have a difficult task selecting the winning entry from nominations covering design optimization and the use of new lightweight materials."

The Altair Enlighten Award provides a platform to showcase success stories, allowing industry leaders to be recognized by their peers for elite performance achievements in the area of lightweighting. The award is intended to honor these achievements annually; to inspire interest from policymakers, educators, students and the public; to create further competition for new ideas in the industry; and to provide an incentive to share technological advances.