Director of Communication and Knowledge Management

Dr. Marc Mandler has over 29 years experience in all aspects of transportation research and development and management. Since joining Volpe in 2006, and prior to his current position as Director of Communication and Knowledge Management, Dr. Mandler served as director of the Center for Safety Management Systems overseeing a large portfolio of work focused on improving critical business processes and information technology tools that support risk assessments, safety investigations, safety inspections, and enforcement across multiple modes.

Prior to coming to Volpe, Dr. Mandler served as technical director of the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center (R&DC) in Groton, Connecticut, a position he held since April 1997. The R&DC conducts research and develops products to support the varied missions for the U.S. Coast Guard. Dr. Mandler joined the R&DC in 1984 to develop a research program to improve the effectiveness of the Coast Guard's visual aids to navigation systems. He conducted numerous studies and authored many publications on visual signaling and visual detection. In 1989, Dr. Mandler established the R&DC's human factors program to develop tools and methods to improve the safety and performance of the humans who operate our maritime system. He served as chief of the systems analysis branch and chief of the waterways and marine safety division at the R&DC prior to becoming technical director.

Dr. Mandler received a BA from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1977, and a PhD in psychology and visual perception from the Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, in Rochester, New York, in 1983. After completing his doctoral degree, Dr. Mandler was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he studied the neural basis of human color vision.