Acting Technical Center Director of Safety Management and Human Factors

Michelle Muhlanger is the acting director of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center's Safety Management and Human Factors Technical Center.

Muhlanger joins us from FTA, where she served as the deputy regional administrator for FTA Region 1 since 2020. In this position, she provided vision and leadership to a multidisciplinary team of transportation professionals and represented FTA in administering the $11 billion portfolio of federal investments supporting public transportation and safety improvements across New England.

Prior to her work at FTA, Muhlanger served as the deputy regional administrator for the FRA Region 1 office, where she was responsible for regulatory and safety oversight of rail systems across New England, New York, and New Jersey.

Muhlanger started her career at the U.S. DOT Volpe Center as an intern and later served as a mechanical engineer in the Structures and Dynamics Division, spending more than eight years working on the rail crashworthiness and vehicle/track interaction teams.

Muhlanger holds a bachelor's degree in biomedical and mechanical engineering and a master's degree in mechanical engineering, both from Tufts University.