Monica Jones

Monica L.H. Jones is has over 10 years of experience conducting research studies relating to humans in engineered systems. Motivated by eight years of practice as an industrial engineer in the automotive industry, Dr. Jones’ approach to research is solution-oriented and based on detailed, accurate quantification of human interactions with products and workspaces. Dr. Jones’ research spans human factors, vehicle occupant protection, engineering anthropometry, and human modeling for vehicle design and other areas of ergonomics, including consumer products and tools to facilitate the design of industrial workplaces. Although her research addresses the population as whole, she has prioritized vulnerable populations, including child passengers and obese occupants, as well as military and law enforcement personnel. Dr. Jones has recent and current industry-sponsored projects focused on quantifying vehicle occupant behavior and/or response in automated vehicles (AVs). Quantifying occupant behavior, posture, state, and preferences will become an increasingly important problem as automation transforms drivers into passengers. Dr. Jones is an author of 55+ peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. She collaborates extensively with researchers from academic institutes internal and external to U-M and a range of government agencies as well as industry. Dr. Jones’ research has been sponsored by Federal agencies including National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the U.S. Army, and vehicle manufacturers including Waymo, AISIN, Toyota Boshoku, Honda R&D, Ford Motor Company, Toyota, General Motors.

Awards

• College of Engineering Departmental Faculty Award, University of Michigan recognizing innovation in research (2020)
• SAE Excellence in Oral Presentation, 2017 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International. Detroit, MI (2017)
• Teamwork Achievement Award, Defence Research and Development Canada (2017)
• Best Presentation Award, 4th International Digital Human Modeling Conference. Montreal, Canada (2016)
• Teamwork Achievement Award, Defence Research and Development Canada (2014)
• Nominated to editor’s shortlist for the Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factors Liberty Mutual Award (2014)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Post Graduate Scholar; Canadian Government Laboratory Visiting Fellowship (2012-2014)
• NEXGEN Ergonomics Best Oral Presentation Award. Ontario Society of Biomechanics (2010)
• Henry Ford Technology Award, Ford Motor Company (2008)
• Technical Innovation/Achievement Award, Ford Motor Company (2007)