Associate Research Scientist Emeritus, CMISST

Education

• PhD, History, University of Michigan, 1984
• BA, History, University of Michigan, 1972

Research Interests

Dr. Blower’s research career spanned over 30 years. Medium and heavy trucks were a primary research emphasis, but he also directed projects on traffic safety issues related to light vehicles. Areas of research included advanced collision avoidance technologies; occupant protection technologies; heavy truck rollover risk; vehicle mechanical condition and crash risk; truck crash typologies by driver age; truck configuration, operating environment, and crash risk; and the primary factors contributing to fatal traffic crashes. A related primary research interest is in traffic crash causation. Dr. Blower helped to develop the methodology and served as a consultant to the Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) and to the Bus Crash Causation Study for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Service

Member of several technical committees for the National Academy of Sciences on topics related to truck safety; member and chair of the Michigan Truck Safety Commission; member, subcommittee on best practices for commercial vehicle data collection for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Awards

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Public Service Award, 2020
• Richard H. Austin Traffic Safety Award, 2017
• Patricia F. Waller Award, Best Paper in Road Safety, Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, 2011

Personal Interests/Hobbies

Cooking, baking, birding, history, and philosophy

Additional Information

ORCID: 0000-0001-8629-9485