Presenter

Dr. Klinich is a research scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. She has 35 years of experience conducting research on how to protect occupants in motor-vehicle crashes. She attended Case Western Reserve University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical engineering as well as a bachelor’s in English. After her first job working at NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Test Center, she came to the University of Michigan to earn her PhD in Mechanical Engineering and stayed to become a member of the research faculty. She has authored over 150 publications, and since 2010, she has worked on over 60 research projects and has served as principal investigator on 42 of them. In 2023, she received the University of Michigan Research Faculty Achievement award in recognition for her work in automotive safety, and in 2024 was named to the Child Passenger Safety Hall of Fame. Her most recent research efforts have focused on child passenger safety, wheelchair transportation safety issues, autonomous vehicles, and accessible vehicle interfaces.