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127 posts
2026-09
The initial overview journal article from YouthShape.US has been published. We are proud to be wrapping up the largest and most comprehensive…
Design of Consumer Products including Wearables 3D surface scanning Anthropometric Surveys and Population Data+1
2026-05
I gave a brief presentation to auto industry colleagues at a meeting of the semi-annual Seat Comfort Tech Club. This informal group of researchers and…
Passenger cars and light trucks Seating Statistical shape models+3
2026-03
Our first journal article based on the YouthShape.US anthropometry study has appeared! We are delighted that this outstanding work led by our post-doc…
Footwear Statistical shape models Survey design and data collection+5
2026-03
My colleague Matt Parkinson and I have just published a paper that supports our efforts to improve the quality of anthropometric data for children.…
Design of Consumer Products including Wearables Survey design and data collection Sampling, weighting, and synthesis+2
2026-03
I attended theBiomechanics and Engineering Anthropometry (BEAM) 2026 meeting in Dayton, Ohio, this week. This was the 2nd of what I hope will be a…
Military vehicles Accommodation models Design and analysis tools+1
2026-02
We are excited to publicly launch HumanShape.app, a radical new approach to anthropometric analysis for design. The field of applied anthropometry is…
Head- and face-worn devices Ear and hearing devices Footwear+9
2026-01
We continue to make rapid progress on YouthShape.US, the first large-scale, publicly accessible anthropometric survey of U.S. children since the…
Statistical shape models Survey design and data collection Sampling, weighting, and synthesis+4
2025-11
At the SAFE Symposium this month I presented an overview of some of our head/face related research. The current focus of the effort is the development…
Head- and face-worn devices Statistical shape models Medical imaging and skeletal geometry+1
2025-10
We launched the home website for YouthShape.US this month. This is the first large-scale, publicly accessible anthropometric study of U.S. children in…
Design of Consumer Products including Wearables Survey design and data collection Sampling, weighting, and synthesis+3
2025-09
At the IRCOBI conference this month my colleague Kyle Boyle presented a paperon the development of a parametric finite-element model of a generic…
Occupant protection Passenger cars and light trucks Parametric finite-element human body models+3
2025-08
Our journal publication on the first iteration of our U.S. adult ear model appeared in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics. This is the…
Ear and hearing devices Design of Consumer Products including Wearables Medical imaging and skeletal geometry+2
2025-07
We're proud of the work we're doing with Gentex and the U.S. Navy supporting the development of new oxygen masks for U.S. and NATO fighter pilots.…
Head- and face-worn devices Statistical shape models Medical imaging and skeletal geometry+1
2025-05
Over the past six years, we've completed the world's largest, most thorough survey of functional strength for children ages 12 months through 11…
Strength and capability measurement Design and analysis tools Children and youth+1
2025-02
The application of human body measurement to design has been stuck in the 1950s since, well, the 1950s. Nearly all applications of anthropometric data…
Design of Consumer Products including Wearables Sampling, weighting, and synthesis Accommodation models
2024-11
My colleague Dr. Daniel Park has been leading work on our fast, efficient PassFit human measurement system. We recently published a paper in Sensors…
Military vehicles Design and analysis tools Anthropometric Surveys and Population Data+1
2024-10
My colleague Dr. Monica Jones presented a paper at the annual conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society describing the methods for our…
Survey design and data collection Strength and capability measurement Children and youth+1
2024-08
We continue to make progress on many areas of our research, including our YouthShape anthropometry survey of children ages 3-17 years (now over 550…
Head- and face-worn devices Medical imaging and skeletal geometry Survey design and data collection+3
2024-03
Our colleagues at SENTIR Research Labs in Dayton hosted the inaugural Biomechanics and Engineering Anthropometry Meeting (BEAM) this month. This…
Head- and face-worn devices Ear and hearing devices Medical imaging and skeletal geometry+2
2024-01
At the SAE Government/Industry meeting this month I had the opportunity to give an overview of our occupant anthropometry research, including a…
Ear and hearing devices Medical imaging and skeletal geometry Survey design and data collection+6
2023-11
Last month at the HFES annual meeting, Dr. Monica Jones presented an overview of our methods for gathering data on child strength. In the past year we…
2023-06
We have been exceptionally busy even by our normally crazy standards. But we're fortunate to be able to do studies that will have major impact in…
Heavy trucks and buses Ear and hearing devices Chairs and furniture+5
2023-01
A few updates on some of many projects my colleagues and I are currently working on: Female Body Armor Fit We're wrapping up a study for the U.S. Army…
Ear and hearing devices Military vehicles 3D surface scanning+2
2022-11
Last year, my colleagues and I published the first large-scale naturalistic study of front-seat passenger postures and behaviors using a vehicle…
Occupant protection Posture and Motion Measurement Automotive industry
2022-10
At the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society annual meeting this month, I presented a paper in an occupational ergonomics sesssion on some playing…
Hand tools and protection Motion capture and landmark digitizing Digital human models and manikins+1
2022-09
The IRCOBI conference in Porto marked our first public presentation of the new Hermes™ finite-element human body model developed in our group. Led by…
Parametric finite-element human body models Public datasets and dissemination
2022-09
At the annual IRCOBI conference in Porto, I presented two short communications based on our work in the Biosciences group. Using data from two…
2022-08
We haven't been doing as much child passenger safety research as we did from 2005 to 2015, but we recently collaborated with CDC and Westat on a study…
2022-06
I'm very proud of the research program that we're leading for the U.S. Army that is creating a modern suite of tools for human-centered design of…
Military vehicles Accommodation models Army and ground forces
2021-10
Our 3D anthropometry team, including my colleages Dr. Daniel Park andDr. Monica Jones, have published the first whole-body parametric human body model…
Vehicle Interior Design Occupant protection ATD design and evaluation+4
2021-09
Erik Brynskog, a PhD student at Chalmers University in Sweden, has just published what is currently the best-available statistical model of pevis…
Occupant protection Injury risk and tolerance Statistical shape models+1
2021-06
My colleagues Kyle Boyle, Nikki Orton, and Jingwen Hu recently published a paper describing new research aimed at improving crash protection for…
Military vehicles Occupant protection Impact and sled testing+1
2021-03
NHTSA has published our report on the effects of abrupt vehicle maneuvers on front-seat passengers with a wide range of initial postures. In the first…
Motion capture and landmark digitizing Volunteer testing Standards and regulation+1
2021-01
Our human modeling team, led by Dr. Jingwen Hu, published another paper documenting our application of parametric human body modeling to improving…
Occupant protection Injury risk and tolerance Parametric finite-element human body models+4
2020-10
At the AAAM conference this month, I presented an overview of findings from the first large-scale study of road vehicle passenger behavior. This was…
Occupant protection Seating Posture and Motion Measurement+2
2020-09
My colleague Dr. Daniel Park has just published a new head/face surface model that is one of only two we are aware of that includes a realistic scalp…
Head- and face-worn devices 3D surface scanning Statistical shape models+6
2020-06
Our group has had a number of recent publications that I think are worth highlighting. Jones, M.L.H., Ebert, S.M., Manary, M.A., Reed, M.P., and…
Occupant protection ATD design and evaluation Injury risk and tolerance+4
2020-01
I gave a talk at the SAE Government/Industry meeting in DC this month highlighting preliminary results from a large-scale study of passenger behavior.…
2019-11
I was pleased to have the opportunity to give a keynote talk at the NFL's Helmet Challenge Symposium this month. The goal of the Helmet Challenge is…
Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Laboratory Biomechanics Injury Biomechanics+1
2019-10
I attended the AAAM annual conference, held in Madrid. (Thanks to Dr. Fran Lopez-Valdez and our excellent hosts at Comillas Pontifical University!) I…
2019-09
I attended the IRCOBI Conference in Florence this month. My colleague Kyle Boyle presented a paper describing recent simulation studies he conducted…
Occupant protection Injury risk and tolerance Parametric finite-element human body models+4
2019-07
I gave a presentation this month at the IQPC Seating Innovations conference in Canton, MI. This annual event draws engineers and designers from across…
Heavy trucks and buses Automotive industry Automated vehicles
2019-06
My colleague Dr. Jingwen Hu and I attended the 2019 ESV Conference in Eindhoven this month. Compared with the last ESV conference in 2017, this…
2019-04
Our group was well-represented at the SAE Congress in April. My colleage Dr Monica Jones presented a paper on sensations reported by participants in a…
2019-01
We have many activities underway related to increasingly automated vehicles. Here's an overview of some of the projects. Occupant Postures, Seating…
Occupant protection Passenger cars and light trucks Seating+9
2018-10
My colleagues and I presented two papers at the IRCOBI conference in Athens. Dr. Jingwen Hu presented an evaluation of a novel four-point belt system…
2018-10
Our group presented three papers at the triennial International Ergonomics Association conference in Florence. Dr. Monica Jones presented preliminary…
2018-09
Since 2012, we have been working with the U.S. Army TARDEC on a set of new tools for vehicle interior design. Our goal is to use extensive data on…
Military vehicles Accommodation models Army and ground forces
2018-08
I recently completed a small study for General Motors examining the distribution of knee contours. The possibility of inadvertent activation of…
Vehicle Interior Design 3D surface scanning Motion capture and landmark digitizing+1
2018-08
We recently completed a small study of highly reclined passenger postures. Many conceptual designs for future automated vehicles anticipate that…
Occupant protection Volunteer testing Posture and Motion Measurement+3
2018-08
I gave an invited talk at the 12th Annual IQPC Seating Innovation Summit on safety considerations in the design of future automated road vehicles. I…
Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Vehicle Interior Design Automated vehicles+2
2018-05
I was honored to receive the Arnold W. Siegel International Transportation Safety Award from SAE International this month. This endowed award is named…
Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Automotive industry
2018-04
Our group was well represented at the SAE International World Congress this year. Pleasecontact me if you'd like copies of any of these papers. Reed…
Occupant protection Passenger cars and light trucks Hand tools and protection+10
2018-04
We recently published a report on an extensive study of passenger responses to abrupt and unexpected vehicle maneuvers. Currently, around half of…
Occupant protection Posture and Motion Measurement Automotive industry+1
2018-03
My colleagues and I have recently published a number of new journal articles on a range of topics. The influence of pre-existing rib fractures on…
Occupant protection Injury risk and tolerance Parametric finite-element human body models+5
2018-02
We reported on the development of a new physical manikin representing a two-year old child. The primary application for the manikin is the measurement…
Occupant protection 3D surface scanning Statistical shape models+2
2017-12
Designing vehicles to be used in multiple markets is challenging in part due to differences in the body sizes across nations. Yet, little research has…
Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Occupant protection 3D surface scanning+4
2017-11
My colleagueDr. Jingwen Hu presented a paper at the Stapp Car Crash Conference on our extensive collaboration with ZF on rear-seat occupant…
Occupant protection Injury risk and tolerance Standards and regulation
2017-11
Our group was well represented at the annual European meeting of theInternational Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury. We presented two…
Occupant protection Injury risk and tolerance Statistical shape models+7
2017-10
I attended the annual conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in Austin, TX this month.Justin Haney, a PhD student working with advisor…
Design of Consumer Products including Wearables Virtual fit testing Body Shape Measurement and Modeling+1
2017-10
I attended the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine in Las Vegas, NV this month. I presented a paper comparing…
Occupant protection ATD design and evaluation 3D surface scanning+2
2017-08
The US Army has taken delivery ofthe first batch of "Gen 1" Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin (WIAMan) ATDs. This is a major milestone in this…
ATD design and evaluation Digital human models and manikins Army and ground forces
2017-08
We've gathered a large set of data on the responses of front-seat passengers to unexpected hard braking and other abrupt vehicle maneuvers. These data…
Occupant protection Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Motion capture and landmark digitizing+4
2017-07
My colleague Dr. Daniel Park and I recently completed a research project for the U.S. Army that tackled an array of cutting-edge problems relating to…
Design of Consumer Products including Wearables Statistical shape models Virtual fit testing+2
2017-07
The cervical spine is of considerable interest in biomechanics research due to its complexity and its importance as a site of both low-severity and…
Injury risk and tolerance Medical imaging and skeletal geometry Public datasets and dissemination
2017-07
My colleagues Dr. Monica Jones and Dr. Daniel Park represented our group at the International Digital Human Modeling Symposium in Bonn, Germany this…
Occupant protection Statistical shape models Digital human models and manikins+2
2017-06
Several faculty from the Biosciences Group participated in the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) conference in Detroit this month. Hu, J., Klinich…
Occupant protection Parametric finite-element human body models Impact and sled testing+2
2017-06
A new paper on our work modeling child body shape has appeared in Traffic Injury Prevention. My colleague Dr. Daniel Park led the development of the…
2017-04
The Biosciences Group was well represented at the SAE Congress this month. My colleagues presented three papers on a range of topics. Jones, M.L.H.…
Occupant protection Passenger cars and light trucks Seating+5
2017-04
We recently completed an interesting study looking at upper-extremity activities in driving. We coded nearly 10k snapshots from videos of over 100…
Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Volunteer testing
2017-01
My colleagues Dr. Lauren Zaseck and Dr, Jingwen Hu have led thepublication of recent work aimed at improving crash protection for soldiers. Vehicle…
Occupant protection ATD design and evaluation Military vehicles+2
2017-01
A broad collaboration at U-M several years in the making has produced an innovative tool for visual assessment of child body shape. The lead…
3D surface scanning Statistical shape models Design and analysis tools+3
2016-11
Dr. Eunjoo Hwang, who recently completed a post-doc fellowship in our group at UMTRI, presented a paper at the Stapp Car Crash Conference this month.…
Injury risk and tolerance Parametric finite-element human body models Volunteer testing+1
2016-11
In early October an had the opportunity to visit Chalmers University and SAFER in Gothenburg, Sweden to participate in a dissertation defense. While…
Occupant protection ATD design and evaluation Parametric finite-element human body models+1
2016-11
I gave two presentations at the NHTSA-hosted biomechanics workshop preceding the Stapp Car Crash Conference. Developing Anthropometric Targets for…
ATD design and evaluation Statistical shape models Motion capture and landmark digitizing+3
2016-09
My colleagues Kathy Klinich and Lauren Zaseck and I participated this month in the annual conference of the International Research Council on the…
Occupant protection ATD design and evaluation Injury risk and tolerance+3
2016-07
I'm honored to have been named the Don B. Chaffin Collegiate Research Professor by approval of the U-M Board of Regents. The Collegiate Research…
Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Vehicle Interior Design Army and ground forces+1
2016-06
I joined my UMTRI colleagues Dr. Monica Jones and Dr. Daniel Park at the Digital Human Modeling Conference in Montreal. Our hosts at ÉTS did a…
Occupant protection 3D surface scanning Statistical shape models+6
2016-06
My colleague Dr. Jingwen Hu led a case-study presentation at the annual review meeting of the Automotive Research Center, an Army funded center of…
Occupant protection Military vehicles Impact and sled testing+1
2016-04
The Biosciences Group had a big presence at the SAE Congress in Detroit this month. We presented research on a broad range of topics from seat shape…
Occupant protection Heavy trucks and buses Military vehicles+9
2016-03
Thanks to the great work of my colleague Dr. Daniel Park, we have launched a beta version of our new web portal, HumanShape.org. HumanShape will…
Statistical shape models Design and analysis tools Public datasets and dissemination+1
2016-02
Anthropometric data on children are scarce, and anthropometric data on toddlers and infants are even more rare. My colleagues and I just wrapped up a…
Occupant protection 3D surface scanning Statistical shape models+3
2016-01
My colleagues in the Biosciences Group and I are heavily involved with other researchers across the country in a program to develop a new…
ATD design and evaluation Impact and sled testing Army and ground forces
2015-11
AutoBeatDaily has a nice piece on recent work we did with ZF TRW aimed at improving occupant protection in rear seats. My colleagues Jingwen Hu, Steve…
2015-11
My colleagues and I attended the Stapp Car Crash Conference in New Orleans this month. During the sessions, we received an award for the best paper at…
Injury risk and tolerance Impact and sled testing Female occupants
2015-08
My colleagues Dr. Daniel Park and Dr. Jangwoon Park presented some recent work at the Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) annual meeting in…
Statistical shape models Digital human models and manikins High BMI and obesity
2015-08
The Biosciences Group is conducting a broad range of research for the U.S. Army, including a large-scale study focused on improving protection for…
2015-05
Daniel Park and I have just published the first parametric body shape model for children. The model is based on laser scans of 137 children ages 3-11…
3D surface scanning Statistical shape models Public datasets and dissemination+3
2015-04
Analyses of crash data in the field have shown that obese occupants are at higher risk in frontal crashes than occupants of normal weight. Improving…
Occupant protection Parametric finite-element human body models Volunteer testing+1
2015-02
My collaborator Matt Parkinson, his student Brian Pagano, and I have just publishedthe first updated assessment of U.S. child anthroometry in a…
2014-12
The final report for the Seated Soldier Study conducted by UMTRI for the US Army TARDEC is now available. The report describes the methods and results…
ATD design and evaluation Military vehicles 3D surface scanning+3
2014-11
I presented a short communication at the 2014 IRCOBI conference in Berlin this month addressing driver knee locations. In modern vehicles, the…
2014-10
Building on recent work on body shape modeling and using Kinect as a body scanner, I presented a paper at the 2014 HFES conference in Chicago on work…
3D surface scanning Statistical shape models Digital human models and manikins
2014-09
I presented an update of our virtual seat fit assessment work at the 8th Annual Automotive Seating Innovators Summit in Detroit. This collaboration…
Statistical shape models Sampling, weighting, and synthesis Virtual fit testing+1
2014-05
The Automotive Research Center at the University of Michigan held its Annual Review this month, celebrating 20 years of research in modeling and…
Occupant protection Military vehicles Strength and capability measurement+2
2014-05
I gave a brief presentation at the Midwest meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics this month. Held at Grand Valley State University in…
Statistical shape models Parametric finite-element human body models Virtual fit testing
2014-05
My colleagues Dr. Monica Jones and Dr. Daniel Park participated in the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society annual meeting in Washington, DC this…
Statistical shape models Virtual fit testing High BMI and obesity
2014-05
Locating body surface landmarks on whole-body scan data is usually a time-consuming manual process. Manual digitizing is the "gold standard"…
3D surface scanning Statistical shape models Motion capture and landmark digitizing+1
2014-05
Prof. Matt Parkinson of The Pennsylvania State University presented some joint work on human modeling at the 3rd International Digital Human Modeling…
2014-05
My colleague Daniel Park presented a paper at the 3rd International Digital Human Modeling Symposium on our work with using Kinect sensors for body…
3D surface scanning Statistical shape models Digital human models and manikins+2
2014-05
TheBBC did a great piece on our work over the past few years to improve accommodation and safety for soldiers in vehicles. This work was funded by…
Military vehicles Accommodation models Army and ground forces
2014-05
The UMTRI Biosciences Group was featured in an article in Mechanical Engineering, the monthly magazine of ASME. The work of my colleague Dr. Jingwen…
Occupant protection 3D surface scanning Statistical shape models+1
2014-01
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present an overview of our research on tactical vehicle occupant protection at the U.S. Military Academy at…
2014-01
We've completed another analysis of data from the Seated Soldier Study aimed at improving the accommodation of warfighters in military vehicles. This…
2014-01
I gave a briefing at the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center this month on our Seated Soldier Study. In close…
Military vehicles 3D surface scanning Army and ground forces
2014-01
My colleages Gale Zielinkski and Frank Huston from the U.S. Army TARDEC presented some of our joint work at the annual Ground Vehicle Systems…
Military vehicles Head- and face-worn devices Posture prediction models+2
2013-11
I presented a short communication at the IRCOBI annual conference in Lyon, France. A substantial part of our current research focuses on measuring and…
Occupant protection 3D surface scanning High BMI and obesity
2013-11
I gave a talk at the Stapp Car Crash Conference in Orlando this month. My paper examined the effects of driver characteristics on seat belt fit. We'd…
2013-10
I gave a short talk at the IRCOBI conference in Gothenburg Sweden last month. My paper focused on our work measuring and modeling seated occupant body…
Parametric finite-element human body models Strength and capability measurement Children and youth+2
2013-10
I participated in an informative symposium hosted by SAFER in Gothenburg Sweden. With a focus on occupant protection for children 4-12 years old, the…
Injury Prevention and Safety in Dynamic Events Children and youth
2013-06
My colleagues and I presented an update on our work on soldier posture, position, and body shape at the 19th annual meeting of the Automotive Research…
2013-04
My colleague Jingwen Hu developed a new framework for conducting virtual seat fit testing using a parametric human body model. This work differs from…
Seating Statistical shape models Parametric finite-element human body models+2
2013-04
We have measured the interior geometry of dozens of vehicles over the past few years for a wide range of safety and ergonomics applications. One…
2013-04
Driver preference for fore-aft steering wheel position has not previously been addressed directly in the SAE literature. We analyzed data from a…
2012-11
At the 2012 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting in Boston, I presented an overview of the methods for our recent large-scale child…
Occupant protection 3D surface scanning Anthropometric Surveys and Population Data+1
2012-09
Wired Autopia covered some of our recent work on body shape modeling. We're using a range of technologies to measure posture and body shape in…
Occupant protection Statistical shape models Automotive industry
2012-09
Presentation from a special session at the Stapp Car Crash Conference in Savannah, Georgia. Recent research, including studies by my colleagues at…
Occupant protection Injury risk and tolerance 3D surface scanning+2
2012-05
We've just completed development of anthropometric specifications for the Army's new WIAMan blast dummy. The new anthropomorphic test device (ATD)…
ATD design and evaluation Military vehicles Army and ground forces
2012-05
We collaborated with Anthrotech on a large-scale study of soldier anthropometry, focusing on seated postures and body shapes with a range of clothing…
ATD design and evaluation Posture prediction models Digital human models and manikins+1
2011-09
The prevalence of obesity among US adults has plateaued over the past few years, but still remains at historical highs. Analysis of crash data has…
2011-07
We are conducting a major study of child posture and body shape. This is the first study to gather three-dimensional data on child posture in…
Occupant protection Passenger cars and light trucks 3D surface scanning+1
2011-05
Digital human modeling for ergonomics applications is the focus of my research in the Center for Ergonomics. The research I direct in the Human Motion…
Hand tools and protection Workplace and assembly design Digital human models and manikins
2011-03
Three-dimensional anthropometry is a part of many of my current research projects. Using data from UMTRI's whole-body laser scanner, medical imaging…
Chairs and furniture ATD design and evaluation 3D surface scanning+2
2010-08
The design of truck and off-highway equipment cabs (agriculture, construction, mining, and forestry) is becoming more complex due to the increase in…
Heavy trucks and buses Hand tools and protection Motion capture and landmark digitizing+1
2010-01
My colleague Matt Parkinson and I hosted a symposium on digital human modeling in Ann Arbor. We had over 140 participants from 12 countries with…
Digital human models and manikins Volunteer testing Virtual fit testing
2009-12
Truck driving is among the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. Crashes are not the main cause of injury, though: Most occupational injuries to…
Heavy trucks and buses Ingress, egress, and falls Motion capture and landmark digitizing
2008-01
The performance of belt-positioning booster seats used by children who are too small to achieve good belt fit with vehicle belts alone, and no longer…
Occupant protection ATD design and evaluation Medical imaging and skeletal geometry+1
2003-03
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) amended Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 202 to require higher and…
Occupant protection Seating Posture and Motion Measurement+2
Nothing matches that combination.