Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
100 Institute Road
Worcester, MA 01609-2280
508-831-5340 (voice)
508-831-5808 (fax)
mhray@wpi.edu
http://www.wpi.edu/~mhray
Dr. Malcolm Ray received his undergraduate education in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont in 1983 and his Master's of Science Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1984. Dr. Ray began his career in roadside safety research when he joined the Roadside Safety Section at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. He was involved in evaluating and performing hundreds of full-scale vehicle crash test experiments involving a wide variety of guardrails, bridge rails, guardrail terminals, crash cushions, signs and other roadside features. In 1987 he became a Research Instructor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee where he continued working on a variety of roadside safety contract research projects. He also received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1993. He formed his own research consulting business, Momentum Engineering, in 1989 and was involved in a variety of roadside safety research project for the Federal Highway Administraiton, National Cooperative Highway Research Program and a variety of other government and industrial sponsors. Dr. Ray spent almost four years as an on-site support contractor for the Federal Highway Administration at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia where he was instrumental in bringing new non-linear dynamic finite element techniques to bear on roadside safety problems. In 1995 Dr. Ray became an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Iowa where he was affiliated with the Center for Computer Aided Design. He continued his research in roadside safety, impact strength of material and nonlinear finite element modelling at that institution while also teaching structural design and mechanics courses. In 1999 Dr. Ray became the Ralph H. White Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dr. Ray is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Dr. Ray's active research interests include the use of finite element methods in evaluating the crashworthiness of structures, in-service performance of traffic barriers and other roadside features and side impact crash testing and evaluation methods. He teaches courses in the areas of transportation, transportation safety and vehicle crashworthiness, finite element analysis and impact mechanics. His recent research projects have been sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, a varitety of State and Provician Departments of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration. He has published nearly 80 journal articles, conference papers and reports on variouis aspects of highway and roadside safety. Dr Ray is or has been a registered professional engineer the States of Maine, Tennessee, Illinois and Iowa. Dr. Ray is the Director of the new NHTSA sponsored Center for Human Impact Performance, a part of WPI's BioEngineering Institute. He is the Director of WPI's unique Impact Engineering Program and he is also associated with the Civil Engineering Department's Highway Infrastructure Program (HIP) at WPI.
Updated 08-03-04 by mhr.