NHTSA Announces Winners of International Safety Awards

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

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

“The contributions made by today’s awardees advance our ability to design and build vehicles that protect vulnerable road users as well as vehicle occupants,” NHTSA Communications Director Veronica Morales said. “Their vital research adds to our collective knowledge of how we can more effectively prevent crashes and save lives on roads around the world. Their work spans the broad array of vehicle safety factors, including biomechanics, active safety systems, ADAS design and testing, human modeling, and pedestrian safety.” 

This year’s conference theme is "Enhanced and Equitable Vehicle Safety for All: Toward the Next 50 Years,” and the work of these awardees represents the most cutting-edge 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 in the field of motor vehicle safety engineering and for distinguished service to the motoring public.

Katarina Bohman
Biomechanics Technical Expert, Volvo Cars, Sweden
Citation: For her outstanding contributions to vehicle occupant protection.

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

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

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

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

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

Rini 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. 

2023 U.S. Government Appreciation Award 

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

Deborah Hersman
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 Automobile and Land Transport Technology, National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory, Japan
Citation: For his exceptional leadership, technical expertise, and scientific contributions in automotive safety.

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

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

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

Ing. Lothar Wech
Professor, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Germany
Citation: In recognition of his pivotal role in promoting and advancing traffic safety.