The County Press

Dryden native takes senior position at Army research center




Dr. Peter Schihl takes his oath of office from GVSC Director Jeffery Langhout during ceremonies June 6 at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren. He was named a U.S. Army Senior Research Scientist. In his new position, Schihl will be the Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility lead at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center. U.S. Army photo

Dr. Peter Schihl takes his oath of office from GVSC Director Jeffery Langhout during ceremonies June 6 at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren. He was named a U.S. Army Senior Research Scientist. In his new position, Schihl will be the Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility lead at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center. U.S. Army photo

WARREN — If not for a basketball scholarship from Oakland University, Dryden’s Peter Schihl might have ended up working in an auto factory or on a Dryden area farm.

Instead, the 1984 Dryden High School graduate is the civilian equivalent of a onestar general at the Detroit Arsenal, home to U.S. Army Combat Capability Development Command’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) and the Tank Automotive Command (TACOM).

Schihl, who has worked at the Detroit Arsenal on the corner of East 11 Mile and Van Dyke in Warren since 1991, was named the Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility (GVPM) expert during ceremonies there June 6. Schihl joins two other U.S. Army Senior Research Scientists at Detroit Arsenal: GVPM’s Chief Scientist and the U.S. Army’s Chief Roboticist.

Schihl is one of 42 senior research scientists in the Army. Army senior research scientists serve as general officer level Department of the Army Civilians who advise leadership on science and technology matters, an Army spokesman said.

Karen Schilhl pins a Senior Research Scientist insignia on her husband’s, Peter, lapel during ceremonies June 6 at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren. U.S. Army photo

Karen Schilhl pins a Senior Research Scientist insignia on her husband’s, Peter, lapel during ceremonies June 6 at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren. U.S. Army photo

“Senior research scientists are specialists in their field but maintain a broad vision in order to guide the Army along its various research paths appropriately,” said GVSC Director Jeffrey Langhout. “Dr. Schihl’s expertise and background makes him the ideal voice to senior leadership and guide for the Army’s power and mobility community.”

“I been here so long they just call me the the tall guy from propulsion,” said Schihl, who’s 6-foot-6.

That height helped make him a star when he played for John DelCamp at Dryden High School. “I was a Detroit Free Press player of the week a couple of times,” he recalled of his days as a Cardinal.

He recalled suiting up with just eight other guys to take on Bishop Gallagher at the Burger King Classic in Richmond. “At the end of the game they were not laughing,” he said. As is the case sometimes in small towns, the stars aligned his senior year and Dryden found itself among the top 10 Class D schools for basketball in the state.

That brought scouts, recruiters and coaches, including Oakland University’s Greg Kampe, who had just arrived as a young coach to take over a struggling program. “I was in his first freshmen class,” said Schihl.

Graduating from OU in 1989, Schihl turned down a job at GM Research Labs to pursue a master’s degree. His basketball career ended with graduation. While a couple of his teammates got picked up by the NBA in the final rounds, “I wasn’t good enough for the pros,” he said. Schihl chose graduate school over following some of his teammates to the European leagues.

When he finished grad school, the auto industry was in the tank, so he took a job with the Army just down the street from the GM Tech Center. “I didn’t plan on staying more than a year or so,” Schihl said, but when he decided to apply to the University of Michigan’s PhD program, his boss said the Army would cover the cost, provided he keep working for them.

He’s been there ever since. “There’s a lot of great people here,” he said.

Schihl has spent the bulk of his 28-year career researching combustion in military diesel engines.

Langhout said Schihl brings a deep background at GVSC and in power and mobility; he has served at the Detroit Arsenal where he most recently was a senior technical leader. His passion for mobility and propulsion science and engineering stretches across the Department of Defense, the automotive industry, the heavy-duty industry, the Department of Energy, national labs, and academia, Langhout said.

Schihl said there are a lot of differences between working for the government or military and private industry. During the ceremony, which took place on the anniversary of D-Day, Schihl was presented with his flag and lapel pin of the senior professional cadre service.

Among Schihl’s mentors is his father-in-law, Tony Leonard, a 101-year-old World War II veteran with whom Schihl and the audience shared a touching telephone chat during the ceremony. The tribute to Leonard and the D-Day anniversary punctuated Schihl’s comments about his pride in being an American and grandson of immigrants fleeing Nazi persecution.

Schihl’s parents bought 40 acres Dryden in 1965 and moved from St. Clair Shores and a year later he was born at what was then Lapeer County General. “My folks still live at the same address on Sutton Road, he said, noting his mother just turned 83 and his father is about to.

Schihl and his wife, Karen, bought a “little fixer upper” in Bloomfield Hills in 2002 and while he hasn’t lived in Dryden in years, he still keeps in touch with his old classmates and frequently makes the drive up Rochester Road to see his parents.

Dryden, he said, is “a nice little town.”

It’s a long way from stacking hay on a wagon in a Dryden Township field to running an advanced research lab in Warren.

“I’ve have a lot of very good luck,” Schihl said.