Wall of Fame Class of 2008
Mr. Joshua Madden ‘47 enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a metallurgist, materials engineer and executive engineer at General Motors and Volkswagen. Mr. Madden began working for General Motors in 1954 at the Pontiac Motor Division in product engineering where he served as senior experimental metallurgist, rubber and plastics engineer and staff materials engineer. After 23 years at GM, he joined Volkswagen of America and was chief engineer in charge of setting materials engineering specifications and overseeing production engineering. He is responsible for numerous firsts in the field of automotive plastics including the development of the first thermoplastic front grille on several 1966 Pontiac automobiles. This was the first thermoplastic part used on the exterior of a passenger vehicle that led the way for the use of plastic on a variety of automobile parts we see today. In 2007, Mr. Madden received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers International. He has also received the Hall of Fame Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers and a national award from the Society of the Plastics Industry for his work on the 1976 GM Pontiac all-plastic Phoenix Project demonstration car. Mr. Madden has been a member of, and often held leadership roles in, a broad range of technical committees, engineering societies and professional organizations at GM, Volkswagen, the Society of Plastics Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Society of Materials.
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