Dr. Good earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2016. She has over 13 years of experience in injury biomechanics for military, sports, and automotive applications. Her expertise includes laboratory testing, finite element modeling, dynamic systems modeling, and biostatistics related to injury risk. During her graduate studies at the Center for Applied Biomechanics she studied injury mechanisms and tolerance for the lower extremities during military underbody blast events under grants funded by the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Lab and Army Research Lab. Dr. Good has been the recipient of several awards in the field of biomechanics and engineering including the 2011 Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Student of the Year Award, 2013 IRCOBI Conference Murray McKay Young Researcher Award, and the 2015 AAAM John D. States Best Student Paper Award. Her publication portfolio includes over 35 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings and a book chapter on Leg, Foot, and Ankle Injury Biomechanics. In her current role, she has transitioned to the study of sports injury biomechanics as the project leader for Biocore's helmets research team. She and her team are committed to developing methodologies for evaluating the impact performance of American football helmets in collaboration with the NFL-NFLPA Engineering Committee. As part of a team of engineers striving to reduce the risk of concussion and head injury through improvements to equipment, she has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed articles related to the study of concussions and head protection equipment for the professional football environment, and maintains an in depth knowledge of the technology employed by current football helmets.

Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University

DR. CYNTHIA BIR IS PROFESSOR FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AT WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY. She has extensive research experience in the area of human injury tolerances. Her research interests include sports injury biomechanics, ballistic impacts, blast injury, and forensic biomechanics. She has studied the effects of impacts to all regions of the body and is known worldwide for her work in this area. Dr. Bir currently has funding for various research efforts in the area of injury biomechanics. Investigating the effects of ballistic impacts to the human body, research is currently being conducted on Behind Armor Blunt Trauma (BABT) and the assessment of personnel protective gear. She also has had funding to assess stab/slash wounds to correctional officers, the effects of Tasers on vulnerable populations, and how body armor affects the core body temperature of the end users. She has been funded by the Department of Defense to study both blast neurotrauma and lower extremity injury research. Her sports-related research includes the development of a new thoracic surrogate to evaluate chest protectors, a cumulative concussion model, and real-time data collection of head impacts in boxing. Dr. Bir has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal papers and over 125 abstracts and conference papers. She has served as an invited guest at several conferences both here in the United States and abroad. Dr. Bir is currently the Albert I King Endowed Professor and is a Fellow of both BMES and AIMBE. In addition, she is active with the ASTM F08 and E54 groups, chairing both task groups and working groups. Dr. Bir has been asked to present to various groups, including the Youth in Engineering and Science (YES) Expo, TED-Ed, and at the World Science Festival. She was also selected as a Detroit Crain's Business Daily, Women to Watch.

Dr. Dau has spent his 20+ year career at the intersection of research and product development. He has developed protective equipment and sensor technologies for a variety of sports including football, flag football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, and combat sports. These developments include testing equipment in a laboratory environment and wearable sensors for deployment in training and competition. This experience has resulted in a NOCSAE sports equipment standard as well as numerous products and patents that improve safety and performance for athletes. Dr. Dau received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Wayne State University in 2012.

Vice President of Operations at Hydro Massage

STEVE MOORE IS A VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS AT HYDRO MASSAGE. He is a successful manufacturing and operations professional with extensive experience in a Lean Manufacturing Environment. Steve's background includes a history of working through change to improve operational performance while utilizing continuous improvement for production and customer service processes. Steve is recognized for manufacturing quick turnaround custom helmets in the US. He has worked for over 27 years in the helmet industry mainly in manufacturing and R&D. This included lacrosse helmets, hockey helmets and water rescue helmets for the US Coast Guard.

Dr. Myers has been a member of the Duke faculty since 1991 and is currently Managing Director of Licensing and Ventures. His research examines the biomechanics of head and neck injury with the goal of injury prevention. Dr. Myers founded and directs the Coulter Foundation Translational Partnership Program at Duke that provides $1 MM in early stage funding and management to faculty health care innovations annually with a goal of licensing and creating new life science start-up companies. Dr. Myers is the Director of Emerging Programs in the Duke Translational Research Institute where he is responsible for the consult service that provides funding and project management support to faculty translational research projects in the Duke Medical Center. Within the Office of Licensing and Ventures, he manages IT, legal and works with faculty to facilitate transfer of their innovations into the marketplace. He also maintains an active consulting practice including the NFL and NASCAR while serving as an Executive-in-Residence at Pappas Ventures advising several start-up companies. Dr. Myers is considered by many as the preeminent researcher in his field worldwide, having over 100 manuscripts and publications on the subject. Among Dr. Myers many honors are the Stapp Award of Recognition, and the Isbrandt Award for automotive safety from the Society of Automotive Engineers. He is the six-time winner of the Stapp Award for research in impact biomechanics, more than any other individual, and also the Bertil Aldman award for impact biomechanics research. Dr. Myers has worked with all major organizations concerned with safety in the United States including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment. Because of his breadth of experience in injury prevention, Dr. Myers was appointed to the position of Senior Scientific Advisor to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control for two years. He has also consulted with most major automobile manufactures and automotive racing organizations worldwide. Dr. Myers is a Distinguished Professor at Duke University, having received the Bass Chair in recognition of his accomplishments in research and teaching. He is the faculty advisor to four student best graduate student paper competition winners at national meetings. He was responsible for the 2004 revision of the Pratt School of Engineering undergraduate curriculum. He has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He has also served as Senior Associate Dean for Industrial Partnerships and the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization in the Pratt School of Engineering.

Dr. Pintar is a Professor in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University and was the joint department's founding chair.  He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin.  He is a collaborative member of the Neuroscience and Biomechanics Research Laboratories at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that occupy over 25,000 sq ft, and house a full-scale vehicle crash lab, a programmable acceleration sled lab, mechanical pistons, and drop towers.  Over the years, Dr. Pintar has served as a research mentor to over 50 graduate students, post docs, residents, fellows and junior faculty in the medical school and engineering school. He has been an active member of grant review teams including the CDC, NIH, NIDRR, and other scientific organizations, and has been awarded research grants from the VA, NIH, CDC, DoD, FAA, and NHTSA.  Dr. Pintar is the principal investigator of the US-DOT-NHTSA sponsored MCW CIREN center (seven in the nation). He has contributed to more than 600 research publications with over 340 peer-reviewed journal articles. His research interests include the biomechanics of brain and spine injury, mechanics of spine surgical techniques, and real-world crash investigations.  Dr. Pintar is a fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine.

Dr. Smith is a global expert on helmet design, helmet testing and helmet standards. He has performed thousands of helmet tests and evaluations for helmet manufacturers and designers in the bicycle, motorcycle, football, equestrian, and military helmet fields. He was part of the design team that won the $500,000 grand prize in the 2017 NFL Head Health Challenge. He is also a current member of numerous national and international helmet standard committees and the acting chairman of the F08.53 ASTM committee on headgear and helmets. His current activities include working with standards agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) in developing countries to help them develop their own head protection standards, evaluation of concussion risk mitigation technologies in helmets and application of finite element modelling to better understand brain injury mechanisms.

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Northeastern University

Beth A. Winkelstein, Ph.D., serves as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Northeastern University, where she oversees the university's 10 schools and colleges, research enterprise, and libraries. Dr. Winkelstein brings extensive leadership experience from the University of Pennsylvania, where she served as deputy provost, interim provost, and vice provost for education. At Penn, she co-led a strategic faculty recruitment initiative in key academic fields, launched Penn First Plus to support first-generation and low-income students, and implemented campus-wide efforts to strengthen teaching excellence and expand faculty recruitment across all backgrounds.  

Dr. Winkelstein previously served as associate dean for undergraduate education in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science and chair of the Graduate Group in Bioengineering. She was the PI on several of Penn's multi-year grants from the American Association of Universities and Howard Hughes Medical Institute to transform campus-wide teaching quality in STEM fields through active learning techniques and holistic introductory course teaching.  

Dr. Winkelstein earned her bachelor's degree in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and her doctorate in biomedical engineering from Duke University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Dartmouth College before joining the Penn faculty in 2002.  

A recognized expert in bioengineering and biomechanics, Dr. Winkelstein's research advances understanding of spine and joint injuries, leading to innovations in the diagnoses and treatments for such painful conditions via medical devices and treatment approaches. Editor of the book Orthopaedic Biomechanics and more than 175 papers and book chapters, she has mentored more than 60 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and over 70 undergraduates in her laboratory. Her dedication to student success earned her the Ford Motor Company Award for Faculty Advising.  

Dr. Winkelstein is an elected Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Her honors include the Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award, Van C. Mow Medal, and an Early Career Award from the NSF. Her scholarship has been continuously funded through federal agencies (including CDC, NIH and NSF), foundations, and corporate sponsorships and partnerships.  She holds 3 patents for novel therapeutics preventing pain. Through her leadership, Dr. Winkelstein continues to advance Northeastern's mission to drive innovation in experiential learning and research that addresses global challenges.

Senior Engineer, Biokinetics and Associates Ltd.

CHRIS WITHNALL MANAGES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT in sports impact biomechanics. He has designed helmets for construction safety, firefighting, riot police, bicycle, football, hockey and military applications as well as other human protection systems since joining Biokinetics in 1990. Chris conducted several years of NFL concussion research on concussion tolerance, helmets and mouth guards. Varied research includes airbags, side impact, safety in soccer, riot police injury, ballistic armour degradation, auto racing head protection and head impact research with artificial turf. Chris has authored 18 peer reviewed articles and is a contributing member of the Canadian Standards Association and American Society for Testing and Materials.