Tom Dingus to step down as director of VTTI
Tom Dingus, director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) for 25 years and endowed professor, has announced he plans to step down from the directorship and return to the faculty.
As a driving safety researcher of 35 years, Dingus has dedicated his life’s work to improving and innovating roadway safety and transportation technologies. He has managed more than $800 million in external research funding in his career, including $150 million as a principal investigator, from more than 100 public and private sector sponsors to impact transportation safety nationally and globally.
Dingus is the Newport News Shipbuilding Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics and the president of VTT LLC Inc., a nonprofit, university-affiliated corporation of Virginia Tech Foundation that operates the Global Center for Automotive Performance Simulation.
In 2015, Dingus was the only academic to be elected to the Virginia Governor’s Unmanned Systems Commission.
“Of course, first as governor and later as senator, I knew of Tom’s great work at VTTI in working with VDOT on the world class Smart Roads facilities, and in bringing high paying jobs to Southwest and Southern Virginia,” said U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA). “But I really got to know Tom through serving on Gov. McAuliffe’s Unmanned Systems Commission together and helping with the large-scale automated vehicle demonstration grants that are now starting up in Virginia. Tom’s leadership has been one major reason that Virginia continues to lead the country in this cutting-edge industry, and while I am sad to see him leave the VTTI leadership, I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
VTTI, under Dingus’ leadership, has grown to house the largest group of driving safety researchers in the world. The institute has evaluated many modern critical in-vehicle and modern roadside safety features, such as rear-view cameras, that protect drivers and passengers.
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https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2021/03/030221-vtti-tomdingusretires.html