NHTSA announces International Safety Awards winners

The U.S. Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced the 15 recipients of the U.S. Government Safety Engineering Excellence and Special Appreciation Awards for their work in motor vehicle and public service safety engineering.

The awards were presented at the 27th International Technical Conference on Enhanced Vehicle Safety in Yokohama, Japan.

Today’s winners’ contributions enhance our ability to design and build vehicles that protect both vulnerable road users and vehicle occupants, said NHTSA Communications Director Veronica Morales. Their vital research adds to our collective knowledge of how we can more effectively prevent accidents and save lives on roads around the world. Their work covers the wide range of vehicle safety factors including biomechanics, active safety systems, ADAS design and testing, human modeling and pedestrian safety.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Enhanced and Equitable Vehicle Safety for All: Toward the Next 50 Years,” and the work of these award winners represents the most advanced research and development in support of that goal. The awards are presented at each biennial Enhanced Safety of Vehicles conference.

Awardees were recognized in the following two categories:

2023 U.S. Government Safety Engineering Excellence Award

In recognition of and appreciation for exceptional scientific contributions to motor vehicle safety engineering and for outstanding service to the motoring public.

Katarina Bohman
Biomechanics technical expert, Volvo Cars, Sweden
Citation: For her outstanding contributions to the protection of vehicle occupants.

Thomas dingus
Distinguished Technical Fellow (retired), Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, United States
Recommendation: For his pioneering efforts, significant contributions and dedication to automotive and road safety.

Eric Heitkamp
Chief Engineer for Automotive Safety, Honda Development and Manufacturing of America, LLC, United States
Recommendation: For outstanding contributions to promoting vehicle occupant safety.

Marcus Hermle
Mercedes Benz, Germany
Citation: For his many contributions to vehicle safety.

Yuichi Kitagawa
Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan
Citation: For his numerous contributions to human modeling research and vehicle safety technology development.

Atsuhiro Konosu
Japan Automobile Research Institute, Japan
Citation: For his outstanding contributions to improving pedestrian safety.

Young Sherony
Senior Principal Engineer, Toyota’s Collaborative Research Center, United States
Citation: For her exceptional and influential contributions to crash data analysis, active safety and ADAS design, testing and planning.

Yoichi Sugimoto
Honda R&D Company, Japan
Citation: For his outstanding work in advanced vehicle safety and automated driving technologies.

Yukou Takahashi
Honda R&D Company, Japan
Citation: For his outstanding contributions to vehicle safety.

US Government Appreciation Award 2023

In recognition of and appreciation for outstanding leadership and special contributions to the field of motor vehicle safety.

Deborah Hermann
Board of Directors, NiSource; Board of Directors, Velodyne, United States
Citation: In recognition of her outstanding work and contributions to transportation safety.

Terunao Kawai
National Agency for Automotive and Land Transportation Technology, National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory, Japan
Citation: For his exceptional leadership, technical expertise and scientific contributions to automotive safety.

Jane Lappin
Chairman and Founder, Standing Committee on Road Vehicle Automation, Transportation Research Board, United States
Citation: In recognition of her distinguished career and outstanding contributions to research collaboration for advanced vehicle technologies.

Koji Mizuno
Professor, Nagoya University, Japan
Citation: For his extraordinary work in automotive safety and outstanding contributions to biomechanics.

Cecilia Sunnevng
Vice President, Research, Autoliv, Sweden
Recommendation: In recognition of her distinguished career and outstanding contributions to motor vehicle safety.

Bee. Lothar Wech
Professor, Technical University of Ingolstadt, Germany
Recommendation: In recognition of its vital role in advancing and advancing road safety.