The work of Dr. Janet Brelin-Fornari, Kettering University professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Crash Safety Center, supports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) notice of proposed rulemaking on a side-impact standard for automotive infant and child safety seats. The NHTSA work is due to be released later this year.

This fall, Brelin-Fornari, among the foremost scholars in the field of vehicle crash safety, will deliver a lecture to TRW executives, explaining the new rules from NHTSA.

Thomas Klena (’88) and John Wilkerson of TRW Automotive visited campus on Sept. 23 to meet with Brelin-Fornari and Dr. Theresa Atkinson, adjunct professor of Bioengineering. TRW’s work in vehicle passenger safety draws on the research of Atkinson and Brelin-Fornari, and TRW is providing funding to the Kettering faculty in order to align their business with the most current and relevant research.

“Atkinson, Brelin-Fornari, and others at Kettering who specialize in crash safety research make Kettering an important partner for TRW,” Klena said.

Kettering’s Crash Safety Center provides Kettering students with experiential learning opportunities that prepare them to contribute to the field. TRW has 10 Kettering students employed in co-op jobs this year.

During their visit this week, TRW presented a $15,000 research-funding grant to the program. TRW also presented Kettering with a check for $2,500 towards the acquisition of a Q3s ATD crash-test dummy, specifically designed to evaluate the risk of injury to a three-year-old child involved in a side-impact collision, in June. There are only two of these dummies in the U.S. and the fully instrumented, $95,000 piece of technology would allow the Kettering faculty to provide better information to the industry and, ultimately, help to save more lives.