Thomas Dingus joins board of Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
Thomas A. Dingus, director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, has been elected to Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s board of directors for the 2015-2018 term.
The Arlington, Virginia-based association describes itself as “the world’s largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems and robotics community” in the defense, civil, and commercial sectors. Its 7,500-plus members come from government organizations, industry, and academia.
As a board member serving in a three-year term, Dingus will help set policies of the association. His fellow board members represent Amazon, Google, various government offices and universities, as well as law enforcement.
“It is my privilege to represent both the transportation institute and the university in this capacity as we strive to advance next-generation innovations that promote the well-being of others,” said Dingus.
“AUVSI is a known international leader in fostering the development and use of unmanned systems and robotic technologies to improve humanity. Institute researchers and our university peers understand the benefits of implementing such technology and are working on numerous related projects, including automated-vehicle systems.”
Dingus was selected to the board for his research into transportation issues, including groundbreaking efforts into connected and automated vehicles, naturalistic driving studies, distracted and impaired driving, active and passive safety system design, and infrastructure investment. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently declared Virginia “open for business” in the realm of automated vehicles, with the transportation institute’s Center for Automated Vehicle Systems named to help lead and facilitate automated- and autonomous-vehicle research.
An endowed professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, Dingus is a Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, which honored him with the A.R. Lauer Award for outstanding career achievement in the field of safety. In 2013, Dingus was honored as a Champion of Change by the White House. He also serves as director of the Tier 1 U.S. Department of Transportation Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center.
Dingus is a two-time Hokie graduate, earning master’s and doctoral degrees in industrial engineering and operations research in 1985 and 1987, respectively.
