Dr. Aviva Brecher
Transportation Safety, Health, and Environment

Dr. Aviva Brecher was educated as a physicist at MIT (B.S and M.S, 1968) and U.C. San Diego (Ph.D. 1972). She has extensive professional work experience in university teaching and research, technical business consulting and federal government research and technology (R&T). Prior to joining the Volpe Center, her work spanned a broad range of interdisciplinary topics, including: principal investigator in NASA Apollo lunar and planetary exploration program, meteoritic, lunar, and geo-paleomagnetism, nuclear waste isolation, climate change, and space launch safety.

Her Volpe Center work portfolio since 1987 is diverse, including: risk analysis and management (RA/RM) for space launch and maglev systems; safety, health, and environmental risk assessment and mitigation for non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF) and radiation (EMR) and for ionizing radiation exposure for multi-modal transportation; and preventing risk for emerging technologies (drug interdiction, nanotechnology, ITS, UAVs, GPS outages and biological and chemical threats); developing the FAA's Radiation Safety Program (RSP) for the Occupational Safety and Health policy; and strategic transportation research planning, technology-based transportation forecasts; comparative measurements, analysis, and guidance for transit and rail systems on health and environmental impacts, safety analysis for maglev and high-speed rail to prevent and mitigate electromagnetic interference (EMI) safety hazards and human exposure safety to EMF/EMR for advanced transportation systems, such as GPS-based navigation and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) collision radars; and innovation and technology transfer issues for outreach efforts and policy support, such as defense conversion opportunities in transportation; advanced materials R&D for transportation vehicles and infrastructure renewal; and support to emerging transportation technologies and safety and security issues, such as Remote Sensing and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) transportation applications; recovery of transportation systems after biologics/chemical attacks; developing roadmaps for alternative fuels and vehicles, including advanced electric, fuel cell, and hydrogen transportation; and Plastics and Composite Intensive Vehicle (PCIV) safety.

Since 1999 Dr. Brecher has served as Principal Technical Advisor in Transportation Safety, Health, and Environment (SHE) at RITA/Volpe Center.

Professional honors include: APS Congressional Science Fellow with Senator Tsongas, Fellow of the American Physics Society (APS) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow;; Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer; member of the IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES) and the Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR), TRB Committee on Applications of Emerging Technologies; alternate DOT member for Interagency EMF Committee and Working Groups; National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Transportation subcommittees, and member and chair of other professional society technical and policy committees (APS/POPA, Forum on Physics and Society Chair, AAAS/COSEPP), Volpe liaison on NEPA to the White House Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ); half of Asteroid Brecher 4242.