Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

CEE Seminar

“Transportation Safety and Security: Protecting people on land, at sea, and in air –

From fire and explosion safety to bombs and belts”

Speaker: Dr. Vahid Motevalli

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

09:30 a.m. – 10:30 am*

Academic Center, 6^th Floor Conference Room

*Followed by a Question & Answer Session

Abstract:

Transportation safety and security encompasses a vast span of engineering, sciences and other disciplines. The multi- and inter-disciplinary nature of this field provides very interesting challenges to researchers and educators, particularly as we look to the years ahead.

Safety and security in the public’s eye are interchangeable as they are in many languages. Yet, at the operational level, these functions have always been significantly separated. Until recently, security research and training at the technical level have played a minor role and reflected the same operational separation.

This presentation will discuss an overview of transportation safety and security, identify commonalities and overlap in technical areas. Using examples of past, present and future research topics such as; system hazard analysis for hybrid-electric and fuel cell vehicles, occupant safety in air and land vehicles using the power of finite element simulations, and fire and explosion research, these overlaps at the more fundamental levels are examined.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Vahid Motevalli has had more than 20 years of teaching, research and administrative experience in the government, industry, and academia. Since 1998, he has been an Associate Research Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at The George Washington University (GW). He is Founder and Co-Director of the GW Aviation Institute, which was established in 1998. He currently serves as the Director of the Aviation Safety and Security Certificate Program and Faculty member in the Transportation Research Institute/National Crash Analysis Center (FHWA/NHTSA) at GW. Dr. Motevalli obtained his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. from the University of Maryland, in 1989, 1985 and 1983, respectively.