Jeff Wheeler presented an educational lecture to an audience of coaches and parents at Arvada Hockey Association on concussions in youth ice hockey. Information was shared regarding the biomechanics of concussions, immediate signs/symptoms for coaches to recognize, monitoring of ongoing symptoms by parents, as well as the latest information regarding return-to-play guidelines.
VSI participated in the 54th AAAM Conference in Las Vegas with a poster presentation of original VSI research entitled Children in Rollover Accidents: Review of NASS-CDS 1995-2007. VSI co-authors included Quinn Campbell and Jeff Wheeler. Rollover accidents are the most common accident type analyzed by VSI in our casework. Field data from the NASS-CDS database has proven to be a valuable tool during our analyses when studying the effect of case specific variables on injury probability.
VSI is pleased to acknowledge that Jason Skiera has received his Professional Engineer (P.E.) certification from the State of Michigan.
VSI biomechanical engineer David Raymond, PhD co-chaired the Biomechanics session at the annual SAE 2010 World Congress held in Detroit. Dr. Raymond has been a member of the SAE Occupant Protection Committee since 2006 and continues to participate as an active organizer and chairman for sessions on Occupant Protection at the annual World Congress.
Jeff Wheeler (VSI President / Director of Biomechanics) was named to the Board of Associate Editors for the Journal of Forensic Biomechanics. More information about this journal may be found at their website.
VSI staff including President and Director of Biomechanics Jeff Wheeler presented a lecture on Concussion Awareness in Ice Hockey as part of a Coaching Clinic Series at Arvada Hockey Association. This lecture focused on brain injury mechanisms in ice hockey, medical guidelines for concussed adolescents, the effect of repeat concussions, and current scientific efforts in head protection.
Quinn Campbell continues to be involved with the ASTM F27 Committee Meeting on Ski Safety and attended their meeting in Vail, Colorado. This Committee, focused on Snow Skiing, was formed in 1982 and meets twice each year. The meetings usually include workshops on the latest statistical information on ski injuries as well as advances in ski safety.
VSI's Jason Skiera attained Technician and Analyst Certification for downloading and interpreting data stored in the vehicle's Event Data Recorder (EDR). Many of today's passenger cars, light trucks, and SUV's record and store crash related information. Jason joins other VSI team members who are certified to download, analyze and interpret any crash data contained within the EDR.
Three VSI staff including Quinn Campbell attended the 53rd Annual Stapp Car Crash Conference in Savannah, Georgia. The Stapp Car Crash Conference is the premier forum for presentation of research on impact biomechanics, human injury tolerance, and related fields that advance the knowledge of crash injury protection.
VSI staff attended the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine in Baltimore. AAAM is a professional multidisciplinary organization dedicated entirely to motor vehicle crash injury prevention and control.
Dr. Catena comes to VSI after completing post-doctorate research at the Harvard University, School of Public Health and Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety in Occupational Biomechanics and Ergonomics. His expertise and specialized knowledge in human movement biomechanics and control will be a valuable addition to our premise and occupational accident team.
Mr. Skiera has joined the VSI staff bringing over five years of forensic engineering experience in vehicle accident reconstruction and specialized training and experience in car, truck, SUV, and tractor-trailer collisions and rollover accidents.
VSI is pleased to announce that Mr. Campbell has joined the VSI Biomechanics staff. Mr. Campbell spent over seven years as a Research Engineer on various grants and contracts for the NHTSA Biomechanics Group. He worked on research projects involving finite element and multi-body modeling of brain, neck, thorax, and THOR dummy; crash database research (NASS, FARS, CIREN ); and physical crash tests using various crash test dummies and cadavers. Click here to learn more about Mr. Campbell.
VSI is pleased to announce that Dr. Zhang has joineVSId the VSI staff. Dr. Zhang brings an impressive depth and breadth of automotive safety industry experience to the VSI team. In addition to her mathematical and computer simulation expertise, her experience in automotive safety across crash field data analysis, crash testing, and occupant restraint system design places her in a unique position to advise our clients on complex cases involving high-speed crashes, occupant injuries, and occupant restraint system performance.
VSI biomechanical engineer Dave Raymond, Ph.D. co-chaired three sessions on Occupant Protection: Biomechanics at the SAE 2009 World Congress.
VSI Jeff Wheeler was invited to present at the Trial Techniques and Technology Session of the DRI Product Liability Conference in San Diego. The presentation was titled Effective Presentation of Simulations and Other Complex Trial Evidence and was a collaboration with product liability trial attorney Tom Warburton, Esq. of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings of Birmingham, Alabama.
VSI is pleased to announce that Dr. Schmidt together with his firm Human Performance Research in Marina del Rey, CA has become affiliated with VSI. Dr. Schmidt is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Human Factors and Professor Emeritus at UCLA.Click here to learn more about Dr. Schmidt.
VSI is pleased to announce that Dr. Bach has joined the VSI consulting staff. Dr. Bach is an Associate Professor in the Division of Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and former Associate Research Professor and Director of the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Lab at the University of Colorado Denver. Click here to learn more about Dr. Bach.
VSI is pleased to announce that Adam Michener has received his Professional Engineer license from the State of Colorado.
VSI is pleased to announce that Dr. Raymond has been appointed Director of Research for VSI.
VSI is pleased to acknowledge that Teddy Vaughan has received his Professional Engineer license from the State of California.
Dr. David Dainty has been recertified as a tribometrist using the English XL variable incidence tribometer following the successful completion of a certification course and examination. The English XL is one of only two tribometers that have a standard attached to them through ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) and has been accepted as the instrument for testing for slip resistance on wet surfaces.
Jeff Wheeler's expert witness testimony was featured in local Hawaii newspaper coverage on the murder trial. Mr. Wheeler’s testimony included a reconstruction of bullet trajectory analysis. Click here to view the West Hawaii Today story titled Jurors View Presentation of Man's Position in Shower When Shot to Death.
Jeff Wheeler’s trial testimony using a computer simulation of a bullet trajectory analysis was featured in newspaper coverage of the murder trial. Click here to view the article from the Hawaii Tribune Herald titled Computer Simulation Used.
Media coverage of a Hawaii murder trial anticipated Jeff Wheeler's upcoming expert witness testimony in a story featured in the Hawaii Tribune Herald. Click here to view the Hawaii Tribune Herald story titled Reconstruction Expert to Testify in Kauhi Trial.
Los Angeles KCBS Television Channel 2 News aired several stories on the Disneyland Thunder Mountain Railroad tragedy that killed a young man in 2004. Below you can download two short video clips from the television news coverage that featured VSI President Jeff Wheeler inspecting the accident scene in the days after the accident as well as VSI graphics depicting the train derailment.
VSI developed an animation showing the basic workings of an airbag deployment system for The History Channel. Their episode titled Modern Marvels: Car Tech of the Future aired on December 1, 2003.
Denver based publication Front Range Tech Biz, The Journal of Colorado's Innovation Economy, featured VSI in an article describing the company's forensic accident reconstruction and biomechanics business. Click here to read the article titled Analysis No Accident to Vector Scientific.
Jeff Wheeler and his forensic consulting firm Vector Scientific (VSI) was a feature story in the Evergreen, Colorado newspaper Canyon Courier. Click here to read the story titled Bio-Mysterious.
An LA Daily Journal Verdicts and Settlements article on Demonstrative Evidence featured Jeff Wheeler’s expert analysis and trial testimony in a rollover crash that rendered a passenger quadriplegic. Wheeler’s biomechanical testimony determined the critical issue of "who was the driver and who was the passenger." Click here to read the article titled Accident Reconstruction Tips Award to Plaintiff.