Wassim Najm, Ph.D.
Wassim Najm, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, HASS COE
wassim.najm@dot.gov
Dr. Wassim Najm is a Senior Advisor at the USDOT Highly Automated Systems Safety Center of Excellence (HASS COE) specializing in safety verification and validation of highly automated systems. Previously, Dr. Najm served as the Chief of Advanced Vehicle Technology Division at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and was awarded the Secretary of Transportation’s Meritorious Achievement (Silver Medal) Award for exceptional leadership and dedication to advancing transportation safety. He has conducted extensive studies on the definition of crash problems and the evaluation of crash avoidance systems utilizing various technologies such as in-vehicle sensors, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. Dr. Najm has played a pivotal role in assessing the safety of automated driving systems and providing valuable insights into the testing and evaluation of cooperative driving automation applications. His expertise extends to the formulation of test procedures and performance specifications for advanced vehicle safety systems, and the application of innovative engineering-based methodologies to predict the safety benefits of crash avoidance technologies. Additionally, he has made significant contributions to the development of guidelines for the independent evaluation of crash avoidance technologies in field operational tests, incorporating his extensive knowledge of crash statistics to create a comprehensive typology of pre-crash scenarios as a basis for further research. Dr. Najm has made notable contributions in data mining and analysis, leveraging his expertise to identify driving conflicts and near crashes from naturalistic driving data. His research programs have encompassed a wide range of safety-related initiatives, including the intelligent vehicle initiative, integrated vehicle-based safety systems, and vehicle-to-vehicle safety in the connected vehicle research program. Dr. Najm received a B.S, M.S., and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University.
