Dr. Thomas Dingus is the Director of the Virginia Transportation Technology Institute (VTTI) and is being honored for his work in developing and testing connected vehicle and other smart transportation technologies. Under his leadership, the VTTI has been instrumental in conducting transportation safety and human factors research. Examples include the safety and usability of advanced in-vehicle devices, the development of crash avoidance technology with simulators and test-tracks, large-scale studies of driver performance and truck driver fatigue, and driver distraction and attention research. Dr. Dingus has led a team of researchers to develop a data acquisition system, providing an opportunity to gather continuous video and driving performance data in real-world driving conditions. To date, these systems have been installed in nearly 4,000 vehicles deployed across the U.S. and in several foreign nations. This method of data collection and analysis provides unprecedented information about the causes of crashes to designers and policy makers who can develop countermeasures that will lead to reduced crashes and fatalities.