Zachary Doerzaph, Ph.D.
- President, Global Center for Automotive Performance and Simulation
- Associate Professor
Research Areas
- Automotive Safety
Research Interests
Zachary Doerzaph serves as the executive director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) and as president of the Global Center for Automotive Performance and Simulation (GCAPS), a university-affiliated non-profit research and development company. In addition, Doerzaph is an associate professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics.
Doerzaph coordinates a large research team of faculty, staff, and students focused on measuring and improving the performance of next-generation transportation systems. Working alongside multi-disciplinary collaborators from academia, industry, and government, Doerzaph strives to improve the human condition through research leadership relating to advanced vehicle and roadway infrastructure design, development, and evaluation including topics such as connected vehicles, collision avoidance systems, automated driving systems, driver interfaces, big data analytics, driver behavior monitoring, and evaluation.
Doerzaph is passionate about educating the transportation safety workforce. He believes transformative improvements in the human condition are only possible through combining traditional transportation engineering approaches with high-technology solutions derived from a variety of disciplines. Doerzaph is a thought-leader and visionary yet balanced with technical knowledge in system integration, training, and hands-on experience with vehicle and infrastructure design, data acquisition, and research methods.
Education
- Virginia Tech: Ph.D. Industrial and Systems Engineering, Human Factors Option, 2007
- Virginia Tech: M.S., Industrial and Systems Engineering, Transportation Safety HF Option, 2004
- University of Idaho, BS, Mechanical Engineering, 2001
Awards, Honors, and Service
- Virginia Business 100 People to Meet in 2022 (11/29/2021-12/31/2022). Ranked as CNBC’s Top State for Business for two consecutive years, Virginia earned the distinction in part for its “wealth of colleges and universities.” I was one of educators and leaders who are helping to grow that national reputation for academic excellence.
- Advisor for the 2022 student project team, Lighting Interface for Effective Signaling of Adjacent Vehicles in Occupant Risk Scenarios (LIFE SAVIORS) who was a finalist in the Student Safety Technology Design Competition at the 2023 Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) International Conference organized by the National Highway Traffic Administration
- Delivered sworn testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on preparing infrastructure for the arrival of automated driving systems (2018)
- Advisor for the 2018 student project team, the Pre-Rear-End Positioning and Risk Extenuation System (PREPARES) who won first place in an international competition at the Enhanced safety of Vehicles (ESV) conference organized by the National Highway Traffic Administration
- "Distinguished Leader in Research", Virginia Tech Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, 2021, 2023
- Associate Editor: SAE International Journal of Connected and Automated Vehicles (2017-present)
Selected Publications
Terranova, P., Guo, F., Doerzaph, Z., Perez, MA., (2025, September 16). Injury risk curves for motorcycles in the United States. Traffic Injury Prevention. DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2025.2556958
Klauer, S., Doerzaph, Z., (2025, July 31). Motor Vehicle Crash Prevention. The New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2216360
Dean, M., Doerzaph, Z., Riexinger, L. (2025, May 6). A Safe System Approach to Setting Speed Limits Through the Development of Injury Modification Factors. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981251327216
Nayak, A., Eskandarian, A., Doerzaph, Z., Ghorai, P. (2024) Pedestrian trajectory forecasting using deep ensembles under sensing uncertainty. IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Transactions, Xplore. DOI:10.1109/TITS.2024.3382201 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10495763.
Chontos, R.*, Grindle, D., Untariou, A., Doerzaph, Z., Untariou, C. (2024). A numerical investigation of e-scooter-to-vehicle traffic accidents. *Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering*, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/10255842.2024.2347477
Herbers, E.*, Doerzaph, Z., & Stowe, L. (2024). The Impact of Line-of-Sight and Connected Vehicle Technology on Mitigating and Preventing Crash and Near-Crash Events. *Sensors*, 24(2), 484. https://doi.org/10.3390/s24020484
Kim, H.*, Song, M., & Doerzaph, Z. (2022). Is Driving Automation Used as Intended? Real-World Use of Partially Automated Driving Systems and their Safety Consequences. In Transportation Research Record (Vol. 2676, pp. 30-37). doi:10.1177/03611981211027150
Sykes, K.*, Basantis, A., Dingus, T., Murray-Tuite, P., Neurauter, L., & Doerzaph, Z. (2020). Human Factors Evaluation of an In-Vehicle Active Traffic and Demand Management (ATDM) System. *Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour*, 71, 119–144
Basantis, A.*, Miller, M., Doerzaph, Z., & Neurauter, M. L. (2021). Assessing Alternative Approaches for Conveying Automated Vehicle "Intentions". IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC. doi:10.1109/THMS.2021.3106892
Mao, H., Guo, F., Deng, X., & Doerzaph, Z. (2021). Decision-adjusted Driver Risk Predictive Models using Kinematics Information. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 156. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2021.106088
Basantis, A., Doerzaph, Z., Harwood, L., & Neurauter, L. (2019). Developing a Standardized Performance Evaluation of Vehicles with Automated Driving Features. SAE International Journal of Connected and Automated Vehicles, 2(3). doi:10.4271/12-02-03-0011
Doerzaph, Z. (2018). Innovation and America’s Infrastructure: Examining the Effects of Emerging Autonomous Technologies on America’s Roads and Bridges. Testimony Presented to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Washington DC Retrieved from Innovation and America’s Infrastructure: Examining the Effects of Emerging Autonomous Technologies on America’s Roads and Bridges - Hearings - U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
Song, M., McLaughlin, S., & Doerzaph, Z. (2017). An On-Road Evaluation of Connected Motorcycle Crash Warning Interface with Different Motorcycle Types. *Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies*, 74, 34–50.
Holmes, L., Harwood, L.*, Klauer, S., & Doerzaph, Z. (2014). Connected Vehicle Systems: Evaluation of Display Location and Application Type on Driving Performance. *Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board*, 2424, 39–47