Collaboration
Contact
Matthew P. Reed, Ph.D.
Research Professor and Head, Biosciences Group
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
2901 Baxter Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48109-2150
Phone: +1-734-936-1111
Email: mreed@umich.edu
Email is always the best way to get in touch with me. If we haven't corresponded before, please include WEBREQ in your subject line so your message isn't caught by my spam filters. The mail link above adds it for you.
My office at UMTRI is room 421, in the northwest corner of the 4th floor. Directions and a map to UMTRI.
Research at UMTRI
My resarch is supported by a wide range of industry and government funders. Historically, about half of my support has come from industry and about half from Federal goverment sources. I have worked with many companies, including Amazon, AM General, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, General Dynamics Land Systems, Herman Miller, International Truck, Johnson Controls, Lear, Magna, Meta, PACCAR, and ZF, among others. My Federal support has come from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Within the Army, I have worked extensively with TARDEC (now GVSC) on design tools for vehicle interiors.
I welcome opportunities to collaborate with companies and government agencies on a wide range of research topics. We are skilled at working with industry and are able to conduct high-quality research that contributes to the advancement of engineering knowledge while also providing useful and timely results. Michigan is a public university and consequently we do not generally conduct proprietary or classified research. Yet, our long-term success in collaborating with industry is a testament to our skill in fulfilling our academic responsibilities to publish and disseminate cutting-edge research while also providing a good return on investment for our industry partners.
My colleagues at UMTRI and I collaborate across the University, building teams as needed to address particular research challenges. We have active collaborations with the U-M Medical School, College of Engineering, and School of Public Health, among others.
If you're in industry and interested in the research described in these pages, or some related research area, please contact me to set up a discussion. I think you'll find that working with the U-M can be very rewarding, providing access to world-leading research expertise at a fraction of what it would cost to develop that capability internally.
Working with students
Many students are involved in our research at UMTRI, including both undergraduate and graduate students. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions, based on student category.
Undergraduates
We hire many undergraduates to work as research assistants on various research projects. Many of these initially come to UMTRI through as Parker Scholars, UROP students, or work-study, but we also hire students outside of those programs when we need help and have good candidates. We typically have up to 20 undergrads working in the Biosciences Group each summer, then keep a smaller number of these on through the next school year. We hire for summer starting in January, so please email your resume if you think you might be interested in a summer research internship at UMTRI. Note that we rarely hire students who are not currently enrolled at Michigan.
Graduate Students
We support only a few graduate students in the Biosciences Group at one time. Over the past decade, all have been conducting research in crash safety. If you are interested in working with us as a graduate student, you must first be accepted into the College of Engineering. Note that I am no longer taking on MS or PhD students for thesis supervision. I am not able to assist with admission and am not able to provide tuition support for graduate students.
Post Docs
Although I am no longer taking on post-doc supervision, I may be able to direct you to a colleague interested in a post-doc, so contact me if you have interest in our research (see below). s.