Serpil Acar awarded Chair in Design for Injury Prevention - June 2010
In recognition of her academic track record, leadership and research, Serpil Acar has been appointed to a Personal Chair in Design for Injury Prevention by Loughborough University.
Professor Acar's professional career began at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, and she has worked in the Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Design Departments at Loughborough before moving to the Department of Computer Science/Research School of Informatics. She is the founder of the ‘Biomechanics and Injury Prevention’ multidisciplinary research group at Loughborough as well as leader of the University’s Interdisciplinary Computing Research Division (IC). Her research involves close collaboration with engineering departments as well as clinical and academic members of medical schools and automotive industry organisations.
Work carried out by Serpil has led to the world’s most comprehensive body of research in the area of pregnant women and motor vehicles. It has, and continues to have, a major impact on the safety of pregnant occupants, providing guidance to the motor industry. The work is internationally recognised in this field.
Commenting on her appointment and research Serpil said: "I am honoured and delighted to be awarded this Chair in recognition of my work. I am particulalry proud of my team and our generation of the world’s first ever computational pregnant occupant model ‘Expecting’ (a detailed representation of a fetus and placenta within a finite element uterus, used for simulating a variety of car accident scenarios). Computational human models provide opportunities to simulate accidents without the hazards and they are more economical to use than any other method."
Serpil’s interest in injury prevention started when she first became aware of the difficulties faced by pregnant women as drivers or passengers in cars. She realized that expectant mothers know that seatbelts save lives, however they find it uncomfortable to wear and are anxious about the damage it might do to their unborn babies if they are involved in an accident. Therefore comfort issues become safety matters. There was a mismatch between pregnant occupant and current seat belts and Serpil wanted to solve this engineering design problem.
Serpil's current research interests include: engineering design for women; mathematical modelling of the human spine; modelling and simulation studies of ageing populations to prevent accidental injuries; occupant safety; and system design processes.
Read more about Professor Acar's IMCRC Research
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