Dr. Wood has spent nearly 20 years researching the impact of safety- and health-related information on human behavior and injury reduction. She has applied the area of human information processing, involving aspects of attention, learning, memory, decision-making, and behavioral response, to risk communications. She has investigated and identified factors that influence compliance with warnings and developed a scientific framework for predicting effectiveness. She has evaluated a wide variety of strategies for dissemination of warnings. Her work includes the analysis, evaluation, and development of safety information for many different products, such as consumer products, medical devices and medications, workplace equipment, and motor vehicles. She has also studied and published papers on the historical use of warnings on products in the United States throughout the twentieth century.
Much of Dr. Wood’s work focuses on issues related to child safety. She has applied her knowledge of child development to the analysis of accident patterns that are unique to children. As part of her research, she has conducted numerous studies involving the testing of hundreds of children to better understand their capabilities and methods of interacting with products. The results of her studies have been used in the design of products, development of product design standards, and the evaluation of the child resistance of products. She has also studied and analyzed the knowledge of parents regarding child hazards and the strategies they use to reduce child injury.
Dr. Wood has analyzed injury/illness, adverse event, and accident data available from a wide range of sources such as those gathered by government agencies. She has used quantitative analyses to develop and assess the effectiveness of safety information and dissemination methods. She has presented quantitative analyses of accident patterns for individual products to regulatory agencies for consideration in potential product recalls. She has designed and collected data using written questionnaires, interviews, and group discussions.
Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Wood held research positions with companies RMC Research Corporation, SRA Technologies, Inc., and the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences where she conducted studies in the areas of measuring the effectiveness of education and training programs and developing a federally-mandated evaluation systems for education programs used nationwide.
Huntley-Fenner G, Wood CT, Sala JB. Study of the impact of California’s Proposition 65 warnings on safety related awareness and behaviors. Society for Risk Analysis Proceedings Abstracts, San Antonio TX, December 9–12, 2007.
Wood CT, Sala JB, Sanders K, Cassidy P. Trends in consumer product warnings found in voluntary standards. Proceedings, 50th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Santa Monica, CA, 2006.
Sanders KJ, Wood CT, Sala JB. Human factors and the design of medical devices. In: Bringing Your Medical Device to Market, Food and Drug Law Institute, Second Edition. Reiss JB (ed), pp. 197–204, Washington DC, 2006.
Arndt SR, Wood CT, Delahunt PB, Wall CT. Who’s in the back seat? A study of driver inattention. Proceedings, 50th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Santa Monica, CA, 2006.
Diedrich FJ, Wood CT, Ayres TJ. Analysis of trends in federally mandated warning labels. Proceedings, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, pp. 838–842, 2001.
Arndt S, Ayres TJ, Li L, Wood CT, Young D. Human factors in product recall planning. Proceedings, 6th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering, November 2001.
Murray J, Wood CT, Ayres TJ, Humphrey D. Mobile communications, driver distraction, and vehicle accidents. International Journal of Vehicle Design 2001; 26(1):70–84.
Wood CT, Ayres TJ, Schmidt R, Young D, Murray J. Affordance perception and safety intervention. Proceedings, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, Vol. 6, pp. 51–54, 2000.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT. Memory problems for survey-based estimates of population activity. International Journal of Cognitive Technology 1999; 4(1):4–10.
Wood CT, Arndt S, Kelkar R. Children’s use of various internal automobile trunk release mechanisms intended to reduce child entrapment risk. Proceedings, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, pp. 912–915, 1999.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT, McCarthy RL, Arndt SR. Relative rollover risk estimates for pickup trucks. Proceedings, 7th International Conference on Product Safety Research, Washington, DC, 1999.
Arndt T, Ayres T, McCarthy R, Schmidt R, Wood CT, Young D. Warning labels and accident data. Proceedings, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, pp. 550–553, Chicago, IL, October 1998.
Humphrey DG, Murray JM, Wood CT, Ayres TJ. Human factors issues in the design of medical devices. Proceedings, Medical Design & Manufacturing Conference, pp. 116-1–116-6, January 1999.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT, Schmidt RA, McCarthy RL. Risk perception and behavioral choice. International Journal of Cognitive Ergonomics 1998; 2(1 2):35–52.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT, Schmidt R, Young D, Murray J. Effectiveness of warning labels and signs: An update on compliance research. Proceedings, Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference & Exposition, pp. 199–205, May 1998.
Murray J, Ayres TJ, Kelsh M, Wood CT. Mobile telephones and road accidents: A review of some issues. Proceedings, Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference and Exposition, pp. 194–198, 1998.
Wood CT, Arndt SR, McCarthy RL. Using risk analysis to reduce the hazards on playgrounds. Proceedings, National Manufacturing Week Conference, Chicago, IL, March 1998.
Wood CT. Design challenges to the use of child resistance as a safety strategy. Proceedings, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, pp 442–446, October 1997.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT, Schmidt RA, Bjelajac VM. Warning labels and the state of the art. Proceedings, Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference and Exposition, Palo Alto, CA, May 1996.
McCarthy RL, Ayres, TJ, Wood CT. Risk and effectiveness criteria for using on-product warnings. Ergonomics 1995; 38, 11, 2164-2175.
Ayres TJ, Beyer R, Wood CT. Ergonomics and the treatment plant. Operations Forum 1995; 12.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT. The warning label development process. Proceedings, Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference and Exposition, San Jose, CA, May 1995.
Beyer RR, McCarthy RL, Wood CT. Ergonomic analysis of extension ladders. Proceedings, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 1994.
Wood CT, McCarthy RL, Padmanaban J, Beyer RR. Analysis of accident data and fatal risk for occupational use of extension ladders. Proceedings, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 1994.
Wood CT, McCarthy RL, Fowler G, Robinson JN. A comparative analysis of the annual injury risk for motorized vehicular recreation. Proceedings, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Winter Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 1993.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT, et al. Applications of risk analysis to off-road vehicles. Proceedings, Society of Automotive Engineers Off-Highway and Powerplant Congress, September 1992.
Ayres TJ, Gross, MM, Horst DP, Wood CT, Beyer, RR, Acomb, DB, Bjelajac, VM. Do subjective ratings predict warning effectiveness? Proceedings, Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, 1990.
McCarthy RL, Taylor RK, Kost G, Robinson JN, Wood CT. A comparative analysis of industrial lift truck (forklift) accidents. Proceedings, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Winter Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX, November, 1990.
Ayres TJ, Gross MM, Wood CT, Horst DP, Beyer RR, Robinson JN. What is a warning and when will it work? Proceedings, Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, 1989.
Wood CT. Policy analysis of California’s program for gifted and talented students. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 1985; 7(3):281–287.
Ball FM, Wood CT, Smith EE. When are semantic targets detected faster than visual and acoustic ones? Perception & Psychophysics 1975; 17(1):1–8.
Wood CT. Processing units in reading. Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University, 1974.
Juola JF, Fischler I, Wood CT, Atkinson RC. Recognition time for information stored in long-term memory. Perception & Psychophysics 1971; 10:8–14, 1971.
Reports
Wood CT, Gamel NN, Roberts SJ. Evaluation of the Pacific World Telecourse Prototype. RMC Research Corporation, June 1988.
Millsap M, Jastrzab J, Wood CT. State and local response to the Perkins Act: A conceptual framework. Abt Associates, December 1987.
Wood CT, Gabriel R. A study of targeting practices used in the Chapter 1 Program. SRA Technologies, Inc., 1986.
Tallmadge GK, Wood CT, Roberts SJ. Availability and utility of existing databases for addressing issues related to the impact of ECIA Chapter 1 Legislation and Regulations. SRA Technologies, Inc., 1984.
Wood CT. Final report of the evaluation of the Gifted and Talented Education Program. RMC Research Corporation, February 1983.
Tallmadge GK, Wood CT. Comparability of gains from the Three Models in the Title I Evaluation System. RMC Research Corporation, April 1980.
Tallmadge GK, Horst DP, Wood CT. The adequacy of the Equipercentile assumption in the Norm-Referenced Evaluation Model. RMC Research Corporation, April 1980.
Tallmadge GK, Wood CT. A comparison of lock-step and self-paced instruction strategies for training tracked vehicle mechanics. MOS-63C, RMC Research Corporation, 1978.
Wood CT, Fagan BM, Tallmadge GK. Hawaii State Title I Evaluation Report 1977–1978. RMC Research Corporation, August 1978.
Tallmadge GK, Wood CT. User’s Guide, ESEA Title I Evaluation and Reporting System. RMC Research Corporation, January 1978.
Wood CT. Test norming practices and the Norm-Referenced Evaluation Model. Further Documentation of State ESEA Title I Reporting Models and Their Technical Assistance Requirements—Phase II, Vol. 2. Bessey BL (ed), RMC Research Corporation, 1978.
Tallmadge GK, Wood CT. Local norms. RMC Research Corporation, January 1978
Horst DP, Wood CT. Collecting achievement test data. RMC Research Corporation, January 1978.
Wood CT, Cannara AB, Tallmadge GK, Fagan BM. Further documentation of State ESEA Title I Reporting Models and their technical assistance requirements: Phase I, Part 2. RMC Research Corporation, August 1976.
Wood CT, Gamel NN, Tallmadge GK, Binkley JL. State ESEA Title I Reports: Review and analysis of past reports, and development of a model reporting system and format. RMC Research Corporation, October 1975.
Horst DP, Tallmadge GK, Wood CT. Measuring achievement gains in educational projects. RMC Research Corporation, October 1974; also published as “A Practical Guide for Measuring Project Impact on Student Achievement,” Stock No. 1780–01460, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Presentations
Beyer RR, Ayres TJ, Wood CT. Applying basic principles of human factors and ergonomics. 67th Annual Conference and Exposition of the Water Environment Federation, No. 947801, Chicago, IL, October 1994.
Ayres TJ, Wood CT. Memory problems for survey-based estimates of population activity. 3rd Practical Aspects of Memory Conference, College Park, MD, August 1994
McCarthy RL, Ayres TJ, Wood CT, Robinson JN. Risk-based warning design. American Bar Association National Institute, Product Warnings, Instructions and User Information. Washington, DC, January 1994.
Wood CT, McCarthy RL, Ayres TJ. Human subject testing in the development of warning labels. American Bar Association National Institute, Product Warnings, Instructions and User Information, Washington, DC, January 1994.