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Brad Mathis - Western Michigan University

Degree Program: Bachelor's of Science - Mechanical Engineering
Project: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

Brad is currently a senior at Western Michigan University. He is enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering program at WMU and will graduate in December 2010. He has been working on the Heavy Truck Rollover project for about a year and has gained some valuable insight to engineering applications and plans to continue to work with NTRCI for the remainder of his undergraduate studies.

Brian Silovich - Western Michigan University

Degree Program: Bachelors of Science - Mechanical Engineering
Project: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

Brian is currently a senior graduating in May 2010 with a major in Mechanical Engineering at Western Michigan University.  Along with his studies he is part of two student organizations on campus. The first organization is the Student Alumni Association where current WMU students network with past WMU graduates by hosting events to get the Alumni back on campus. The other organization is the WMU Formula Racing Team in which students design, fabricate and assemble an open wheel style race car and compete with other colleges worldwide. His senior design project is to design an efficient 3 wheeled electric vehicle for a high school team. For this project, Brian the TruckSim Coordinator in which he does computer simulations of tractor trailer combinations and analyzes their behavior to see if they match the models of other calculated versions.

Bryn Gwaltney - Western Michigan University

Degree Program: Bachelors of Science - Mechanical Engineering
Project: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

Bryn is a student at Western Michigan University majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He has been working with Dr. Mitchel Keil and Dr. Richard Hathaway for a year and a half now on the HTRC project. His job is to use Simulink to create models that simulate what different technologies would do to the truck. His plan is to continue to work on this project through my college career at WMU.

Catherine Bryant - The University of Tennessee

Degree Program: Masters of Science - Civil Engineering
Project: U11 - Wireless Roadside Inspection

Catherine received her B.S. in Chemistry from Spelman College and her B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently at the University of Tennessee to pursue her Master's in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Transportation. Her previous research experiences in transportation involved the design aspects of urban arterial roads.

Cody Herring - Western Michigan University

Degree Program: Bachelor's of Science - Computer Engineering
Project: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

I am currently a sophomore at Western Michigan University majoring in Computer Engineering.  I have been working with CAViDS and Dr. Richard Hathaway since my first month at Western, primarily in data acquisition and mechanical modeling.  I have participated in a senior design project to measure the Ackermann angle of a steering rig, created and configured a data acquisition system for the Formula SAE team at Western, and assisted in TruckSim/Simulink modeling for active suspension models in Phase B of the HTRC Project.

Francisco Moraes Oliveira-Neto - The University of Tennessee

Degree Program: Ph.D - Civil Engineering
Project: License Plate Recognition (Phase A & B)

Moraes is from Brazil and is a graduate research assistant at The University of Tennessee (UT). He received his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering in February 2002 and his master's degree in Transportation Engineering in October 2004, both in the Federal University of Ceara, sited in his hometown Fortaleza (Northeast of Brazil). His master thesis was about assessing bus priority strategies in urban traffic control centers. Between the years of 2002 and 2006, Moraes also worked as a Traffic Engineer in the Advanced Urban Traffic Control of Fortaleza (CTAFOR), working mainly in setting up the traffic signal times of Fortaleza's arterial network and calibrating and validating the real time control model (SCOOT - Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique) in optimizing the time of 245 signals of Fortaleza city (more than 50% of the existing signals). He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with concentration in Transportation Engineering. During his time at UT, among other activities, he has been involved mainly in a project that involves applications of some data mining techniques to enhance the existing license plate recognition technologies for large-truck speed enforcement. After graduating, Moraes hopes to transfer knowledge to others by teaching or working with transportation modeling and system optimization. His favorite activities are: playing soccer (as a good Brazilian), reading, studying math, playing chess, and cycling.

Jun Xu - The University of Tennessee

Degree Program: Masters of Science
Project: U18: Heavy Truck Traffic Signal Safety

Jun Xu's home is Fuzhou, Jiangxi province, China. In 1999, he started to pursue his bachelor degree at Beijing University of Aeronautic and Astronautic. His major was Electronic Engineering and Automation Science. After graduating from Beijing University of Aeronautic and Astronautic, his career started at Jiangxi Institute of Transportation Science Research. He had been working for almost 3 years till he came to University of Tennessee Knoxville to pursue his master's degree. His major is transportation with interests in ITS, GIS, transportation simulation and optimization.

Madeline McAuley - Western Michigan University

Degree Program: Masters of Science
Project: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

Madeline is currently a Graduate student at Western Michigan University in the Manufacturing Engineering Master of Science program.   She received a bachelor's degree in Engineering Design Technology in April 2009 and is currently the design leader of the Sunseeker solar car team. Madeline is president of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.  For this project she reverse engineered the Volvo truck and LBT trailer using the ATOS 3D digitizer.  Each component was precisely measured, modeled in 3D parametric CAD software, and placed into its respective assembly.  A full assembly of the truck and trailer was provided to WMU colleagues for simulation.  She will be implementing design improvements in CAD for further simulation and analysis.

Michael Arrant - Clemson University

Degree Program: Masters of Science - Mechanical Engineering
Project: U19: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

Michael is a Heavy Vehicle Handling Analyst for Michelin Americas Research Company.  In this capacity he is responsible for research activities relating to heavy vehicle and tire handling performances.  Current areas of research in this capacity include improving the fundamental knowledge relating to tire development and handling performance, relating tire performance to vehicle system behavior, development and review of testing and modeling methods to improve tire performance evaluation, and supporting the tire development community with regard to tire and heavy vehicle handling performance issues. 

Activities conducted to advance these research topics include evaluation of tire force and moment properties, development of tire force and moment modeling and fitting applications, tire and vehicle system model development, vehicle model simulation, physical testing of vehicles, field data evaluation, and correlation of modeling results to field data.  Related tasks include managing testing activities, interacting with vehicle manufacturers and heavy vehicle component manufactures, and coordinating support for heavy vehicle handling issues.

Prior to becoming a Heavy Vehicle Handling Analyst, Mr. Arant worked as a Concept Tire Development Analyst, assessing tires' operational environment and tire and vehicle system behavior; and as a Tire Wear Life Analyst, where he dealt with wear life improvement and developed wear life evaluation methodologies and applications.  Before Mr. Arant began work for Michelin Americas Research Company, he worked as a manufacturing engineer in the cutting tool industry.

Mr. Arant holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University and is currently completing his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University

Nikola Zisi - The University of Tennessee

Degree Program: Graduate - Civil Engineering
Project: U08: Enhanced Finite Element Analysis Crash Model of Tractor-Trailers: Website and Users Manual (Phase B)

Nikola is a graduate student in Civil Engineering at The University of Tennessee. He received his MS and BS degrees in Civil Engineering from the University "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.

Rebekah Achtenberg - Western Michigan University

Degree Program: Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering
Project: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

Rebekah is a senior at Western Michigan University majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Japanese.  For this project she is working on analysis of the axles.  Her senior design project is designing a test stand for fuel cells and testing a potential fuel cell membrane.

Samuel Mensch - Western Michigan University

Degree Program: Bachelor's of Science - Mechanical Engineering
Project: Heavy Truck Rollover Characterization

Samuel is currently a senior at Western Michigan University. He is enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering program at WMU and will graduate in December 2010. He has been working on the Heavy Truck Rollover project for about a year and has gained some valuable insight to engineering applications and will continue to work with NTRCI for the remainder of his undergraduate studies.

Scott Livingston - The University of Tennessee

Degree Program: Bachelors of Science - Electrical Engineering
Project: U12: Data Security for Trusted Truck II

Scott is an undergraduate student in electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He has been an undergraduate research assistant in the networking research group with work focusing on network protocols for vehicular traffic systems. He is interested in understanding and constructing intelligent systems, especially in the context of robotics.

Srinivasa Anuradha Bulusu - The University of Tennessee

Degree Program: Masters of Science - Computer Engineering
Project: U12: Data Security for Trusted Truck II

Anuradha is a master's student of computer engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She received the bachelor degree in electronics and communication engineering from JNT University, India. Her research work focuses on developing and implementing a network protocol for secured data transmission among mobile vehicles, wherein standard cryptographic tools are employed with application-specific optimizations. Her areas of interest include computer networking, communication systems and data security protocols.