Michael Manser, Ph.D.

TTI Senior Research Scientist
Program Manager

Education

• Ph.D., Kinesiology/Human Motor Learning and Control, University of Minnesota, 1997
• M.S., Kinesiology/Human Motor Learning and Control, Ball State University, 1992
• B.S., University of Wisconsin, 1990

Short Biography

Dr. Manser is a Senior Research Scientist and Human Factors Program Manager in the Center for Transportation Safety (CTS) at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. The Human Factors Program examines the behavioral, cognitive, and perceptual driver-related factors that contribute to transportation safety, mobility, and efficiency. A focus area of the Program is on the interaction between drivers and either vehicle or infrastructure-based technology. He has more than 19 years of professional experience in the area of transportation human factors research. In his role as Program Manager Dr. Manser is responsible for managing program finances, managing programmatic resources such as the driving environment simulator, and providing a strategic research direction for the Program staff. As a scientist, he examines the behavioral and cognitive factors contributing to crashes that result in injuries and fatalities and, based on this information, develops/evaluates potential technological countermeasures to improve safety.

Recently, he was the director of the Human Factors Interdisciplinary Research in Simulation and Transportation at the ITS Institute at the University of Minnesota. In that role, Dr. Manser worked closely with multidisciplinary teams of engineers (e.g., civil, mechanical, industrial, electrical), public health researchers, and policy development professionals to develop safety initiatives to increase transportation safety in the state of Minnesota. These efforts included evaluating training protocols for partially automated buses, conducting studies on warnings and information provided to drivers by advanced connected vehicle technology, and co-developing smartphone-based software to provide real-time feedback to teens about risky behaviors.

Dr. Manser is very enthusiastic about returning to TTI after having worked here from 1998 ? 2002. He holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota, is active with the Human and Ergonomics Society and the Transportation Research Board, and has written book chapters and professional journal articles within the domain of human factors and transportation.