About Us – Wheelchair Transportation Safety

UMTRI

At UMTRI we are focused on multidisciplinary research to advance safe, equitable, and efficient transportation and mobility. And we are using our expertise, our passion and 60 years of history to become the world’s foremost organization focusing on multidisciplinary transportation safety and mobility. UMTRI’s Biosciences Group conducts research on the biomechanics of motor vehicle occupants as it relates to occupant injuries, crash protection, and occupant accommodation. Biosciences researchers use state-of-the-art laboratory testing facilities, computer modeling, and data analysis techniques to conduct a wide range of research. You can learn more about UMTRI and our group at umtri.umich.edu.

UMTRI Researchers

Miriam A. Manary, MSE

is a lead research engineer at UMTRI. She has over 35 years of experience in the fields of occupant accommodation, crash protection, and physical ergonomics and is internationally known as an expert in wheelchair transportation safety and child passenger safety. Ms. Manary was a key researcher in the NIDILRR-funded RERC on wheelchair transportation safety (RERC-WTS). Over a 10-year period, she led RERC projects addressing rear and side impact protection for people who use seats in motor vehicles, accommodation and protection of people who drive from wheelchairs, technology transfer, and standards development. More recently she has played a key role in ongoing wheelchair transportation safety research projects funded by NHTSA, the USDOT, and Mcity. Ms. Manary has been active in RESNA, SAE, and ISO committees dealing with WTS during her entire career, and currently chairs the RESNA committee on Wheelchairs and Transportation (COWHAT). Ms. Manary is also a member of the national advisory board for the Transporting Students with Disabilities Conference and in the past years, has served on a national committee evaluating options for safe use of wheelchairs as seating on aircraft.

Email: mmanary@umich.edu

Nichole R. Orton, MSE

is a senior research engineer with 22 years of experience. She has contributed to past RERC projects involving wheelchair transportation safety that addressed design of restraint systems for occupants seated in wheelchairs and development of test fixtures for dynamic testing. She led the project to evaluate belt fit of people in their own vehicles modified for wheelchair use. She has been heavily involved in dynamic testing of wheelchairs and WTORS and is well-versed in recommended procedures for evaluating wheelchairs used as vehicle seating. Ms. Orton has also been involved in development and evaluation of innovative restraint solutions for military occupants. More recently she has played a key role in ongoing wheelchair transportation safety research projects funded by NHTSA, the USDOT, and Mcity. She currently serves as secretary for the RESNA committee on Wheelchairs and Transportation (COWHAT).

email: nritchie@umich.edu

Kathleen D. Klinich, PhD

is a research scientist in UMTRI’s Biosciences group. Dr. Klinich has 35 years of experience in the field of injury biomechanics and occupant protection. She has served as the PI for multiple projects sponsored by NHTSA and other organizations. In the field of wheelchair transportation safety, she led a program to investigate crashes involving occupants seated in wheelchairs, which has given her experience in real-life applications of WTORS and their importance. Since 2019, she has served as PI on eight projects addressing wheelchair transportation safety. These projects have resulted in Design Guidelines for Accessible Automated Vehicles, design of optimized restraint systems for wheelchair stations, demonstration of the feasibility of UDIG for independent securement, creation of computational models for assessing safety of occupants seated in wheelchairs, development of an online parametric wheelchair geometry tool, and evaluation of the crashworthiness of wheelchairs for potential use as aircraft seating.

email: kklinich@umich.edu.

Kyle Boyle, MSE

is a research engineer in the Biosciences group of UMTRI. He has 12 years of experience in the field of injury biomechanics and occupant protection. He has worked on multiple research projects involving computational modeling of human and ATDs, and is experienced in conducting sled testing of wheelchairs using appropriate standards. For the wheelchair transportation safety research projects, he has performed a substantial amount of the modeling tasks, played a key role in prototype design and development (including creating all of the CAD drawings), and contributed to dynamic testing.

email: kjboyle@umich.edu

Jingwen Hu, PhD

is a research professor in UMTRI’s Biosciences group. Dr. Hu has 18 years of experience in the field of injury biomechanics and occupant protection. He has served as the PI for projects funded by NHTSA, NSF, NIJ, US Army, and the Auto Industry. In particular, he has done extensive research for NHTSA and the military to use computational human modeling to optimize restraint systems, including the previous NHTSA project to evaluate restraint systems for occupants seated in wheelchairs and the NHTSA AWTORS project. Dr. Hu has led the modeling tasks on the wheelchair transportation safety projects.

email:jwhu@umich.edu

Contact Us

To learn more about the Committee on Wheelchairs and Transportation (COWHAT) or to inquire about membership, contact: Miriam Manary University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) Email: mmanary@umich.edu Phone: (734) 936-1108