ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman Tuesday applauded Toyota Motor Corp.’s decision to establish its new Toyota Research Institute of North America near the U-M campus, choosing a U-M engineering researcher as the center’s first director.

“The University of Michigan community is pleased to welcome the new Toyota Research Institute Institute to Washtenaw County,” Coleman said. “The institute’s goals of collaborating with area universities and labs and investing $100 million over the next four years in R&D shows the power of Michigan’s University Research Corridor to attract high-paying jobs to Michigan.

“Toyota’s research will help our economy grow while also tackling some of the great challenges of our time including energy and the environment.”

The institute will be directed by Noboru Kikuchi, U-M’s Roger L. McCarthy Professor of Mechanical Engineering, who is also a director of Toyota Central Research & Development Laboratories, Inc. in Japan. Kikuchi will report directly to Yasuhiko Ichihashi, president of Toyota Technical Center-NA. TRI-NA initially will employ 35 researchers and administration staff, and plans to add 10 researchers in 2008 and an additional 20 by 2010.

U-M researchers are engaged in 29 research projects involving or sponsored by Toyota.

The University Research Corridor (URC), an alliance of U-M, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, was formed to transform, strengthen and diversify the state’s economy. The universities are working together to leverage their collective assets and encourage collaboration with business, government and communities to help accelerate innovation and economic growth.

For more on Kikuchi, visit: https://me-web2.engin.umich.edu/zope/pubdir/bio?uniqname=kikuchi

For more on the U-M College of Engineering, visit: www.engin.umich.edu/

Noboru KikuchiU-M College of Engineering