Continuing a commitment to excellence in research and service, Senior Research Engineer Lance Bullard and Senior Research Scientist Sue Chrysler have been named Regents Fellows by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Employees of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), Bullard and Chrysler have dedicated their lives to improving the safety of motorists in Texas and across the country.
Bullard has been employed with TTI since 1983 in designing, developing, improving, analyzing, and full-scale crash testing highway safety appurtenances, such as guardrail terminals, crash cushions, and breakaway sign supports, for both the U.S. and international markets. He has led various research projects for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the Federal Highway Administration, many state departments of transportation and private manufacturers.
Bullard is grateful for his peers and colleagues at TTI regarding the Regents Fellow nomination. “I’d like to thank all the people at TTI who have worked with me throughout the years,” said Bullard. “TTI is a fantastic collection of folks who provide all the support and backup necessary to achieve such an honor.”
Bullard serves as division head of TTI’s Roadside Safety and Physical Security Division. He is the principal investigator and engineer for the Texas Workforce Commission Automotive Equipment project that performs reviews and inspections of vehicle modifications for physically disabled persons.
In addition to holding patents for various highway safety devices, he’s developed and taught courses on various transportation-related topics in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Bullard is an active member in numerous transportation-affiliated associations and societies.
Sue Chrysler began her career at the 3M Company Traffic Control Materials Division laboratory working with human response to retroreflective materials. She has served as principal investigator or task leader on more than 50 projects on visibility, driving, simulation, driver distraction, vehicle safety, traffic sign design and comprehension, pavement marking effectiveness, and traffic operations. For more than 30 years, Chrysler has applied an interdisciplinary approach to research in the role of humans in the transportation system.
“I am a cognitive psychologist by training, studying how people think, learn and react to the world,” said Chrysler. “Transportation is a perfect field to apply my skills and training because people are involved with so many different aspects of the transportation system as drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit users.”
Chrysler is a senior research scientist in TTI’s Traffic Operations Group. She is also the associate director of a National Safety University Transportation Center, Safe-D, which leverages disruptive technology to improve roadway safety. Chrysler has also been a thought leader in a number of professional societies and standards committees, including several National Academies of Sciences Transportation Research Board committees.
Chrysler was delighted about the Regents Fellow nomination: “I know that the selection is made by past recipients, all of whom I respect so much. It really means a lot to be recognized by your peers.”
A long-standing supporter of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, Chrysler has volunteered in a number of science-related activities in the university and border community that support youth. She even championed a Safe-D Center project to work with a middle school science teacher to develop curriculum materials tied to national standards using traffic sign reflectivity as a means to explore physics concepts.
Longtime friends and colleagues at TTI, both Bullard and Chrysler are happy and proud to share this year’s award with one another.
The Regents Fellow Service Award Program began in 1998 and is the highest A&M System-wide honor.
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