Current Position and Research:
Thomas A. Dingus is the Newport News Shipbuilding Professor of Engineering and director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). In this role, he holds teaching responsibilities for two classes, Transportation Safety and Human Factors in Transportation. As Director of VTTI, Dr. Dingus is responsible for procurement of program funding, development of industrial partnerships, coordination of faculty research activities, and general Center administration for more than 100 full-time researchers and support staff as well as approximately 100 students. Dr. Dingus has conducted transportation safety and human factors research since 1984, including the safety and usability of an advanced in-vehicle devices, the development of crash avoidance technology utilizing simulators and test-tracks, large-scale naturalistic studies of driver performance and truck driver fatigue, and driver distraction and attention research. This research has garnered Dr. Dingus several national awards including the Ely best paper and Lauer career safety achievement awards from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the Dean's Award for Research excellence at Virginia Tech. Dr. Dingus has also had the honor of testifying before a U.S, Congressional sub-committee and the National Council of State Legislatures on issues of driver distraction and attention. Dr. Dingus has over 150 technical publications and has managed over 100 million dollars in research funding thus far in his career.
Relevant Experience:
Concurrent with the forming Transecurity, Dr. Dingus is the Newport News Shipbuilding Professor of Engineering at Virginia Tech and director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI).
In addition to almost ten years of management and research at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Tom Dingus was founding director of the National Center for Transportation Technology at the University of Idaho and was an associate director of the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa where he was responsible for the human factors research program associated with the Iowa Driving Simulator. At both the University of Idaho and the University of Iowa, Dr. Dingus was responsible for the development of a graduate curriculum in human factors.
Education:
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (Human Factors), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia., 1987.
M.S., Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (Human Factors), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia., 1985.
B.S., Systems Engineering (Human Factors), Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, 1979.
Relevant Publications:
Dingus, T.A., Jahns, S.K., Horowitz, A., and Knipling, R. (1998). Collision avoidance systems. In W. Barfield and T. Dingus (Eds.), Human Factors in Intelligent Trans. Systems. Erlbaum: New York.
Dingus, T. (2003). Human Factors Applications in Surface Transportation. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2002 National Academy of Engineering Symposium. The National Academies Press: Washington, D.C.
Dingus, T.A., McGehee, D.V., Manakkal, N., Jahns, S.K., Carney, C., Hankey, J. (1997). Field evaluation of automotive collision avoidance systems. Human Factors. (39) 216-229.
Dingus T.A. (1997). A meta-analysis of driver eye-scanning behavior while navigating. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society - 39th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society.
Dingus, T.A. (1994). Human factors issues for Intelligent Cruise Control systems. Proceedings of the Human Factors in Collision Avoidance Systems Workshop. IVHS America and NHTSA.
Dingus, T. A., Klauer, S. G., Neale, V. L., Petersen, A., Lee, S. E., Sudweeks, J., Perez, M. A., Hankey, J., Ramsey, D., Gupta, S., Bucher, C., Doerzaph, Z. R., Jermeland, J., and Knipling, R.R. (2005). The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study: Phase II - Results of the 100-Car Field Experiment. (Interim Project Report for DTNH22-00-C-07007, Task Order 6; Report No. TBD). Washington, D.C.: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Dingus, T.A., Neale, V.L., Garness, S.A., Hanowski, R.J., Keisler, A.S., Lee, S.E., Perez, M.A., Robinson, G.S., Belz, S.M., Casali, J.G., Pace-Schott, E.F., Stickgold, R.A., Hobson, J.A. (2001). Impact of Sleeper Berth Usage on Driver Fatigue: Final Project Report. Contract No. DTFH61-96-00068. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration Report.
Dingus, T.A., Antin, J.F., Hulse, M.C. and Wierwille, W.W. (1986). Human Factors Test and Evaluation of an Automotive Moving-Map Navigation System Part I: Attentional Demand Requirements. General Motors Research Report. General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, Michigan.
Dingus, T. A., Hanowski, R. J., Wierwille, W. W., and Hankey, J. M. (February, 1999). In-vehicle information systems behavioral model and design support; Task D: Human Computer Interface Specifications Paper. Contract No. DTFH61-96-C-00071.
Dingus, T.A., McGehee, D.V., Hankey, J.M., Jahns, S.J., Mollenhauer, M.A., Carney, C., Reinach, S.R., and Manakkal, R.N. (1995). Driver interface specification for the design of collision warning, avoidance and adaptive intelligent cruise control systems. Frontier Engineering DOT/NHTSA technical report. Contract No. DTNH22-93-C-07326.
Dingus, T.A., Hardee, H.L. and Wierwille, W.W. (1987). Development of models for on-board detection of driver impairment. Accident Analysis and Prevention. (19) 4, 271-283.