Duane Cronin, a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor, is the new executive director for the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research (WatCAR). He succeeds Amir Khajepour, also of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, who held the position for more than three years.
Cronin's automotive research focuses on vehicle crashworthiness and occupant safety. Recent projects include collaborations on occupant modeling with an assembler consortium including Chrysler, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Nissan, as well as work with 3M in automotive adhesives.
Sebastian Fischmeister of electrical and computer engineering is WatCAR's new associate director of connectivity and Bruce Hellinga of civil and environmental engineering has become the new associate director of intelligent transportation.
Fischmeister investigates distributed real-time embedded systems and has on-going automotive projects with industry partners such as General Motors and QNX. Hellinga researches the design and evaluation of intelligent transportation system components for the private and public sector with partners that include Delcan and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.