DES PLAINES, IL (June 24, 2004) -- Helping increase driving safety for workers, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Foundation today announced Erik C.B. Olsen, Ph.D., of Blacksburg, VA, as the 2004 recipient of the ASSE Foundation / Liberty Mutual Safety Research Fellowship.

The ASSE Foundation/Liberty Mutual Safety Research Fellowship promotes research in occupational safety, expands upon current safety practices, and creates the groundwork for fellows to further pursue safety research.

This summer Dr. Olsen will spend four weeks at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety in Hopkinton, MA; where he will have access to current research projects, equipment, and research scientists onsite. He will collaborate on a driver safety study to better understand how distractions affect workers' driving performance. This research project will compare how driving tasks and distraction tasks compete with each other for short-term memory, visual and auditory resources of the driver. The study will test drivers in three groups; ages 18 to 24, ages 25 to 40, and ages 65 and older. Dr. Olsen will receive a stipend from the ASSE Foundation to cover expenses, and he will write an article on the research results for an ASSE publication; Professional Safety or the ASSE Foundation's Advocate .

A member of ASSE's Colonial Virginia Chapter, Dr. Olsen serves as a postdoctoral fellow at the Prevention Research Branch in the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, MD. He is pursuing research in the areas of teen driving, with an emphasis on understanding novice drivers, and the importance of teens having their parents involved in driver education and training.

This past December Dr. Olsen received a Ph.D. in Industrial Systems Engineering, with an option in Human Factors and Ergonomics, from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA. During his studies at Virginia Tech, he served as a graduate research assistant at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, involved in a variety of on-road and test-track data collection efforts.

Applicants for the ASSE Foundation/Liberty Mutual Safety Research Fellowship must be U.S. citizens and possess a Ph.D. degree or be working towards a Master's or Ph.D. degree. ASSE members and applicants enrolled or holding appointments in an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredited safety program are given special consideration. Applications and guidelines for next year's fellowships will be available at www.asse.org/foundat.htm.

Recognized throughout the world, the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety conducts original investigations into job-related accidents, injuries, and disability and publishes

the results in peer-reviewed, scientific journals. The institute is the only occupational safety research facility owned and operated by an insurance company.

Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group ( www.libertymutual.com) is a leading global multi-line group of insurance companies whose largest line of business is personal auto, based on 2003 net written premium.

LMG is the eighth largest property and casualty insurer in the United States, based on 2002 net written premium (sixth largest based on 2002 direct written premium). LMG ranks 116 th on the Fortune 500 list of largest corporations in the United States for 2003. LMG employs nearly 38,000 people in nearly 900 offices throughout the world.

The company has received financial strength ratings of “A” (Strong) from Standard & Poor's, “A” (Excellent) from the A.M. Best Company and “A2” (Good) from Moody's Investors Service.

LMG offers a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, workers compensation, commercial multiple peril, London Market, Commercial automobile, general liability, global specialty, group disability, assumed reinsurance, fire and surety.

Chartered in 1990, the ASSE Foundation receives funding from corporations and voluntary donations from ASSE members - individual and through chapters countrywide for applied safety research, scholarships, fellowships, internships and professional development.

     

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