AnnuAl RepoRt - University of Alabama at Birmingham

50
New Research Laboratory
Targeting Distracted Driving
Established by UAB UTC
When UAB UTC Leadership selected Dr. Despina
(Dessie) Stavrinos to become the UTC’s first Post-
Doctoral Fellow in the Spring of 2009 and Dr. Russ Fine
agreed to be her mentor, leadership already knew Dessie
was an energetic, intellectually honest young investigator.
They also knew she would use the multiple skill-sets she
acquired and honed during her post-graduate fellowship
at the UAB UTC to become a highly successful transportation
research scientist and educator. What they didn’t
know was how quickly Dr. Stavrinos would make the
most of the opportunities provided through her affiliation
with the UAB UTC.
As part of her preparation for post-doctoral training, Dr.
Stavrinos conceptualized and designed a research project
that had been approved by UAB UTC Leadership and selected
for funding by the UAB UTC Advisory Board. Her
position provided a salary consistent with UAB guidelines
for post-doctoral students, office space and the opportunity
to conduct her research project. Many people would
have been happy to stop right here – not Dr. Stavrinos.
Before her first official day as the UTC’s post-doctoral
trainee, Dr. Stavrinos expanded her original, UAB UTC
sponsored research award and acquired supplemental
funding by securing a modest grant award from Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The CHOP award
enabled her to add a component to her existing UAB UTC
research project, something that would not have been possible
without the initial UAB UTC award. Dr. Stavrinos
now had two sources of funding, an expanded research
project, a salary and an office. Once again, many people
would have been happy to stop there, but not Dr. Stavrinos.
Soon after beginning her Post-Doctoral training on June 1,
2009, Dr. Stavrinos established the Translational Research
for Injury Prevention (TRIP) Laboratory ® at the UAB
UTC (www.triplaboratory.com). The TRIP ® Lab’s mission
is to provide a scientific environment that promotes the
generation of knowledge intended to increase our understanding
of the behavioral aspects of distracted driving
among teens and young adults and then translate those
findings into injury prevention and control practice. Since
its establishment less than a year ago, well over a dozen
graduate and undergraduate students have been a part of
the TRIP Laboratory research group. Working in the TRIP
Lab offers a unique opportunity for students to learn about
research and something about how non-traditional
disciplines can actually have important roles in the
uab utc annual report 2009-2010
“As a psychologist by
training, it’s deeply
rewarding to see
traditional transportation
disciplines demonstrate a
keen appreciation for behavioral research’s role
solving critical transportation issues.”
Dr. Despina (Dessie) Stavrinos
transportation field. Some students are earning course
credit for their work in the TRIP Lab. (See Winter 2009
UAB UTC UPDATE for more details www.uab.edu/utc.)
Work being conducted in the TRIP Lab is not going
unnoticed. Within the past year, Dr. Stavrinos has been
featured numerous times in print, electronic and television
media, both nationally and internationally, explaining and
discussing the impact of distracted driving. She served as
the Research Panel moderator at the Alabama Distracted
Driving Summit and, along with UAB UTC Director Dr.
Russ Fine, was one of only two individuals from the State
of Alabama invited to attend and participate in the US-
DOT Secretary’s first National Distracted Driving Summit
in Washington, DC in late 2009.
So, in the year since beginning her Post-Doctoral Fellowship
with the UAB UTC, Dr. Despina Stavrinos has
secured outside funding to supplement her research, established
the novel, highly successful TRIP Laboratory, been
featured nationally and internationally as a distracted driving
expert, and is mentor to over a dozen students. Once
again, most people would have been content to stop right
here – but, you guessed it – not Dr. Stavrinos.
In February 2010, Dr. Stavrinos obtained funding from the
University Transportation Center for Alabama (UTCA) to
further expand her distracted driving research. This new
project, Impact of Distracted Driving on Traffic Congestion,
examines driver behavior in a virtual driving simulator
in different levels of traffic flow while engaging in
various distracting activities. It also examines the factors
that predict risky driving behavior in the varying traffic
and distraction conditions. Dr. Stavrinos and the TRIP
Lab group are in the process of recruiting participants for
this study.
As she is quick to point out, “Without the research experience
and the resources made possible by the support of
the UAB UTC, I would not have been able to achieve as
much as I have in such a short period of time.”
Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008
in crashes involving a distracted
driver, and more than half a
million were injured. (NHTSA)