Trinity University engineering professor Jack Leifer is leading a team of summer researchers who will use photo measurements to examine how car seat positioning affects vehicle ergonomics and safety.
This research has implications for understanding how passengers fare in car wrecks. It also represents a major step in Trinity’s efforts to increase the accessibility of STEM fields to historically underrepresented students. Under the umbrella of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (LSAMP), this project is one of many initiatives being funded by a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, which was co-awarded to Trinity University and three other private liberal arts universities in San Antonio in 2022.
The work represents a continuation of an earlier project of Leifer’s, done in Sweden more than 15 years ago, as well as Leifer’s overarching interest in the dynamics of vehicle occupants that occur during collisions.
Leifer is working with students from St. Mary’s University on the project. "My students, Nathan and Kobie, have really energized this project,” Leifer says. “It's been a pleasure watching them both learn about the project and gain an understanding of how photogrammetric approaches can be applied to challenging measurements in other disciplines.”
Leifer says he and his students are “looking forward to inviting members of the Trinity Community to participate in this project over the next month or so by having them sit in our vehicles as experimental subjects.”
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