Page 9 - ME Fall Newsetter 22
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                Research
ME Research Associate Professor is Working to
Make Driving Safer
Dr. Nichole Morris was recently promoted to Research Associate Professor after 10 years of outstanding research and service to the department. Morris serves as director of the HumanFIRST Laboratory, which seeks to reduce the rate of injurious and fatal crashes by improving the understanding of driver behavior by supporting the design and evaluation
of usable intelligent transportation systems. Under Morris’ leadership, the lab has undertaken projects that pushed the frontiers of the field forward. Her projects include:
• The experimental design of a field operational test of a
feedback system that monitored novice teen drivers and
notified parents if the teens did not heed warnings from the system.
• The development of a user-focused crash data entry system which has since been used by every law enforcement agency in the state of Minnesota and has influenced how crash data is captured all over the U.S.
• Submitting a successful proposal to replace and update the HumanFIRST driving simulator, making it possible to get a motion-based driving simulator — one of the most advanced in the country.
• Working with the City of St. Paul and SPPD to develop enforcement-based strategies to deal with driver compliance with pedestrian laws.
• Designing a field operational test to evaluate Professor Rajesh Rajamani’s low-cost sensor technology that detects and predicts potential collisions between bicyclists and motor vehicles.
Morris also teaches upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses.
   LCCMR Grants
The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources provides funding for projects that help maintain and enhance Minnesota’s environment and natural resources. Here are our faculty members with active projects:
TIANHONG CUI
Small, Cheap, and Fast Nitrobenzene Detector for Water
WILL NORTHROP
Development of Clean Energy Storage Systems for Farms
NATASHA WRIGHT
Managing Highly Saline Waste from Municipal Water Treatment Technology for Energy-Generation Onsite Industrial Wastewater Treatment
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