 | Jeff Wheeler, M.S.
 E-mail: jwheeler@vectorscientific.com
President
Director of Biomechanics
Jeff Wheeler began working in forensic biomechanics in 1988. Over the next dozen years Jeff completed his graduate studies at UCLA, conducted numerous biomechanical research projects resulting in more than twenty scientific publications, and built a research and forensic biomechanics consulting company with offices in California and Colorado. Over the next eight years the company added complementary services, most notably accident reconstruction, while continuing to develop and refine its core services in impact injury biomechanics. Today, VSI (Vector Scientific, Inc.) enjoys a history and reputation as one of the nation's leading firms in forensic biomechanics and accident reconstruction.
Mr. Wheeler's primary area of expertise is occupant injury biomechanics and evaluation of restraint system use and effectiveness especially in high-speed motor vehicle collisions. Most of his casework today involves complex automobile accidents such as rollovers with resultant severe and fatal trauma. As an applied science, forensic biomechanics is also used to assess impact dynamics and human performance in various activities and incidents. Consequently, over the years Jeff's biomechanical expertise combined with his sport/athletic background has been called upon to analyze numerous sport/recreation accidents. Jeff also serves as a consultant to the National Hockey League (NHL) regarding injury and safety.
Jeff received his Master of Science (M.S.) in Physiological Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1993 where his studies concentrated on Biomechanics. His thesis research on knee injury biomechanics and bicycle pedal designs was published in international scientific journals and presented at the American College of Sports Medicine and the International Society of Biomechanics Congress in Paris as well as featured in national bicycling magazines. While at UCLA, Jeff was also a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Kinesiology and Physiological Science, a Research Assistant in the UCLA Biomechanics Laboratory on projects sponsored by the United States Olympic Sport Science and Technology Committee, and a Staff Research Associate in the UCLA Department of Orthopedic Surgery. Jeff received his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) from The University of Connecticut (UConn) in 1987.
Mr. Wheeler has three-dozen scientific publications to his credit and more than a dozen presentations to professional organizations in the US, France, Switzerland, Sweden, and New Zealand. Three times Jeff has been a finalist for international biomechanics awards. Mr. Wheeler is recognized internationally in the academic/scientific community as an expert in forensic biomechanics and has been invited to speak and serve on panels to several academic organizations on the topic of forensic biomechanics. In 2001 Jeff was invited to speak to the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) in Zurich on 'Research and Applied Science in Forensic Biomechanics'. In 2003 Jeff served as Chairman of the ISB Forensic Biomechanics Session in Dunedin, New Zealand. Mr. Wheeler has also served as a referee for academic and scientific research publications for ISB, Accident Analysis and Prevention, and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Jeff has held a Graduate Faculty appointment as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State University and currently holds a position as Adjunct Professor at the Colorado School of Mines.
Personal
Jeff Wheeler was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and raised in New England, mostly in Vermont. Jeff and his wife Suzanne reside in Golden, Colorado with their three active boys (Dylan, Luke, and Jack). Jeff spends much of his free time trying to keep up with his three sons on the athletic fields, courts, and ice rinks and has built an outdoor rink in the backyard to share pond hockey traditions with his boys and their friends. After hockey season Jeff turns his attention to his other passion, cycling. Last summer Jeff competed in the Colorado State Road Race Championships and then traveled to Europe to ride the Italian and French Alps and follow the 2008 Tour de France. This was a much anticipated return trip to The Tour after touring with Team Carrera in the 1993 Tour de France. Jeff is also known to occasionally be seen in another type of saddle, on a horse, assisting local Colorado ranchers herd cattle and the Custer State Park staff herd the park's 1,200 head of buffalo in their infamous annual round-up.
Jeff's community volunteer activities have included coaching youth football, hockey, and baseball. Jeff coaches and serves as a division director and board member for the Arvada Hockey Association. Jeff founded TryHockey! that over the past three years has introduced ice hockey to more than 150 boys and girls in the Arvada community including providing free equipment, coaching, and ice time. His TryHockey! program has served as a model for the One Goal coalition of USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, International Hockey Industry Association, NHL, and the NHL Players Association and numerous Denver area youth hockey associations now host similar programs with the help of One Goal. For his volunteer work with TryHockey! and the Arvada Hockey Association Jeff was recently honored by the Apex Park and Recreation District with a Distinguished Service Award at their annual Youth Sports Volunteer of the Year Awards.
View Mr. Wheeler's Curriculum Vitae
Left: The Wheeler boys on the backyard ice rink in Golden, Colorado.
Right: Jeff with Ethan Walker and fellow cowboys making the final push of the herd of 1,200 buffalo during the Custer State Park Buffalo Round-up in front of 10,000 spectators.
Left: Jeff with friend, fellow cyclist and hockey coach John McKibbon on the outdoor ice rink atop Alpe d'Huez just hours after this infamous mountaintop stage finish during the 2008 Tour de France.
Right: A few days later after completing an epic climb up the Col de Galibier in the French Alps.
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