Ms. Smedley's (Pierce) expertise is in injury biomechanics, with an emphasis on occupant kinematics and human injury tolerance. She has conducted a variety of experimental tests for the purpose of investigating occupant kinematics, occupant containment and injury potential in planar and rollover automobile collisions, including full-scale sled and crash tests using anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), static and dynamic rollover testing, and the evaluations of the performance of laminated glass. Ms. Smedley has additional research experience in musculoskeletal modeling and cadaveric testing for the analysis of joint and muscular loads.
Prior to joining Exponent, Ms. Smedley was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital working in conjunction with Harvard Medical School faculty. In that capacity, she worked to develop more accurate methods for estimating muscle forces in-vivo. Her research experience includes robotic testing of cadaveric forearms, computer modeling of forearm kinematics, acquisition and analysis of electromyographic signals, and analysis of the effects of various orthopaedic procedures on joint kinematics. Ms. Smedley’s background also includes exposure to various issues surrounding spaceflight, including time spent working for NASA and The Boeing Company, and the completion of courses focusing on space suit design and the multifaceted response of the human body to microgravity conditions.
Heller MF, Newberry WN, Smedley JE, Eswaran SK, Croteau JJ, Carhart MR. Occupant kinematics and injury mechanisms during rollover in a high strength-to-weight ratio vehicle. SAE Paper No. 2010-01-0516, SAE 2010 World Congress, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, PA, 2010.
Funk JR, Beauchamp G, Rose N, Fenton S, Pierce J. Occupant ejection trajectories in rollover crashes: Full-scale testing and real world cases. SAE Paper No. 2008-01-0166, SAE 2008 World Congress, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, PA, 2008.
Pierce J, Carhart M, Bare C, Blakeslee A, Heald J. Retention characteristics of production laminated side windows. SAE Paper No. 2007-01-0376, SAE 2007 World Congress, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, PA, 2007.
Richards D, Carhart M, Raasch C, Pierce J, Steffey D, Ostarello A. Incidence for thoracic and lumbar spine injuries for restrained occupants in frontal collisions. 50th Annual Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Chicago, IL, October 16–18, 2006.
Larson R, Raasch C, Pierce J. Measurement and evaluation of vibration exposure for locomotive crew members. The 1st American Conference on Human Vibration, Morgantown, WV, June 5–7, 2006.
Vijayakumar V, Scher I, Gloeckner DC, Pierce J, Bove R, Young D, Cargill R. Head kinematics and upper neck loading during simulated low-speed rear-end collisions: A comparison with vigorous activities of daily living. SAE Paper No. 2006-01-0247, SAE 2006 World Congress, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, PA, 2006.
Fisher JL, Newberry WN, Krishnan R, Pierce J, Moore TLA. Late-phase occupant rebound after rear-end impact. Proceedings, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Abstract 188080, Vail, CO, June 22–26, 2005.
Yamaguchi G, Carhart M, Larson R, Richards D, Pierce J, Raasch C, Scher I, Corrigan CF. Electromyographic activity and posturing of the human neck during rollover tests. SAE Paper No. 2005-01-0302, SAE 2005 World Congress, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, PA, 2005.
Pierce JE, Li G. Muscle forces predicted using optimization methods are coordinate system dependent. Journal of Biomechanics 2005; 38:695–702.
Presentations
Smedley J. Biomechanics and the seatbelt defense. National Association of Legal Investigators (NALI) Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, February 6, 2010.
Smedley J. Biomechanics and the seatbelt defense. Arizona Association of Defense Counsel (AADC) Luncheon, December 10, 2009.
Smedley J. Pre- and post- O’Hara: Evolution of the glazing defect theory. Bowman and Brooke Hot Topics Product Litigation Seminar, Troy, MI, September 18, 2008.
Pierce J. Retention characteristics of production laminated side windows. SAE 2007 World Congress, Detroit, MI, April 16, 2007.
Pierce J. Incidence for thoracic and lumbar spine injuries for restrained occupants in frontal collisions. 50th Annual Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Chicago, IL, October 16, 2006.
Pierce J. The effects of indeterminate constraint conditions in inverse dynamic optimization methods on predicted muscle loads. 12th Annual Symposium on Computational Methods in Orthopaedic Biomechanics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, March 6, 2004.