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Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Contributors

CHARLES W. BABCOCK, JR., has been an attorney on the legal staff of General Motors Corporation since 1971, concentrating in product liability and product regulatory law. He has participated in joint projects with the American Medical Association and in environmental education in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Before joining GM, Mr. Babcock served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was a judge advocate and military judge, and from 1969 to 1971 as an associate with a Kansas City law firm. Mr. Babcock has had numerous legal articles published in professional journals. He received his A.B. degree from the University of Missouri and his J.D. degree from Harvard University.

FRANÇOIS J. CASTAING is vice president for vehicle engineering for Chrysler Corporation. He is responsible for the design, development, and implementation of all vehicle engineering programs and the development of vehicle technology, including electric and alternative fuel vehicles. Before joining Chrysler, Mr. Castaing was with American Motors Corporation. He served as Renault USA product engineering director supporting the launch of the Renault Alliance in 1980 and worked as chief engineer for the Renault Gordini and Renault Sport. Mr. Castaing was born in Marseille, France, and is a graduate of Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts et Metiers.

PAUL CITRON is vice president of science and technology at Medtronic, Inc. He is responsible for corporate assessment and coordination of technology and for setting directions and priorities for corporate research.

Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Previous positions at Medtronic included serving as vice president of ventures technology and director, then vice president, of applied concepts research. Mr. Citron was elected a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in January 1993, has twice won the American College of Cardiology Governor's Award for Excellence, and in 1980 was inducted as a Fellow of the Bakken Society. He is the author of many publications and holds several pacing-related patents for medical devices. A member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Mr. Citron was voted IEEE's Young Electrical Engineer of the Year in 1979. He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota, where he was a research fellow in the Department of Neurology.

DENNIS R. CONNOLLY is a principal and a senior vice president of Johnson & Higgins, the world's largest privately held international insurance brokerage, human resource, and employee benefits consulting firm. Mr. Connolly came to J&H from the American Insurance Association, where he was responsible for developing and implementing policy positions and for supervising liability issues. He has served on numerous task forces and study groups, including two Joint Insurance Trade Association Task Forces on Major Exposures, the National Association of Manufacturers Product Liability Task Force, and the Keystone Center's Program on Compensation for Environmental Injuries. Mr. Connolly is a member of the American Bar Association and the American Law Institute, was an adviser to the American Law Institute Compensation and Liability for Product and Process Injuries Project, and is a vice chairman of the American Bar Association's Committee on Energy Resources Law, Tort and Insurance Practice Section. He is a graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and has a J.D. degree from the Brooklyn Law School.

BENJAMIN A. COSGROVE retired in 1993 as senior vice president for technical and government affairs for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group (BCAG). In that position, he was responsible for all liaison with regulatory agencies in matters of design and technology and was BCAG's senior executive in safety matters. He also formerly served as senior vice president and general manager of BCAG's Engineering Division, responsible for all engineering functions, flight test engineering and operations, and government technical contacts. Mr. Cosgrove has been associated with almost all Boeing jet aircraft programs, including positions as director of engineering for the 707/727/737 Division, chief project engineer and director of engineering for the 767 program, and director of engineering for the Everett Division (747/767 programs). He is the recipient of numerous

Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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honors and awards, including the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, the Ed Wells Technical Management Award, and membership in the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Cosgrove has a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and in 1993 was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering by his alma mater.

BARUCH FISCHHOFF is professor of social and decision sciences and of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His current research includes risk communication, adolescent decision making, evaluation of environmental damages, and insurance-related behavior. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and is recipient of several awards, including the American Psychological Association's Early Career Awards for Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Psychology (1980) and for Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (1991), and the Distinguished Achievement Award (1991) from the Society for Risk Analysis. Dr. Fischhoff is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his B.S. in mathematics from Wayne State University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

PETER W. HUBER is a lawyer and writer. He is a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and serves as counsel to the Washington, D.C., law firm of Kellogg, Huber & Hansen. He clerked on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and then on the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Dr. Huber's professional expertise is in liability law and safety regulation. He is the author of Liability (1988); The Geodesic Network: 1987 Report on Competition in the Telephone Industry (1987); The Liability Maze (1991); Galileo's Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom (1991); Federal Telecommunications Law (1992); and The Geodesic Network II: 1993 Report on Competition in the Telephone Industry (1992). He writes a regular column for Forbes, and his articles have appeared in journals, magazines, and many newspapers. Dr. Huber has a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he served as an assistant and later associate professor for six years, and holds a law degree from the Harvard Law School.

JANET HUNZIKER is a program officer at the National Academy of Engineering, where most of her work focuses on issues related to the management of technological innovation. She has also organized numerous projects in the international area. Ms. Hunziker has a B.S. from Concordia College and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.

R. WILLIAM IDE III is a partner in the law firm of Long, Aldridge &

Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Norman in Atlanta, Georgia. From September 1, 1993, through August 1994, he was president of the American Bar Association (ABA). Mr. Ide was law clerk to Judge Griffin Bell and adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Law. In addition to his long-standing involvement with the ABA, Mr. Ide is the recipient of many professional honors and awards, including the Arthur Van Briesen Award of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association; Designated Amicus Curiae of the Supreme Court of Georgia for Contribution to Administration of Justice; and commendation from the state of Georgia for outstanding service as chair of the Georgia Criminal Justice Council. Mr. Ide has a B.A. from Washington and Lee University, a law degree from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A. from Georgia State University.

MARVIN E. JAFFE retired in 1994 as president of the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, the research and development organization that supports Ortho Pharmaceutical, McNeil Pharmaceutical, Ortho Biotech, and Cilag, all members of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. Dr. Jaffe began his industrial career at Merck and spent 18 years with that company, rising to the position of senior vice president, Medical Affairs. Dr. Jaffe is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the Royal Society of Medicine in England, and he serves on the advisory committee to the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He has published extensively in medical journals on his research in the field of cerebrovascular diseases and is an expert in cerebral metabolism and pharmacology. Dr. Jaffe graduated from Temple University and received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

TREVOR O. JONES is chairman and chief executive officer of International Development Corporation, management consultants. Mr. Jones retired as chairman of the board of Libbey-Owens-Ford Company in 1994 and previously held the positions of president and chief executive officer. Before joining Libbey-Owens-Ford in 1987, Mr. Jones held positions at TRW, Inc., where he was group vice president for sales, marketing, strategic planning, and business development activities for the Automotive Worldwide Sector, and at General Motors, where his last position was as director of General Motors Proving Grounds. While at GM, he also directed Delco's program of applying aerospace technology to automotive electronic and safety systems. Mr. Jones is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the British Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers. He is a recipient of the U.S. Department of Transportation Safety Award for Engineering

Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Excellence and the H. H. Bliss Award from the Center for Responsive Law, both for his contributions to inflatable restraint systems development. He holds many patents and has lectured and authored numerous papers on the subjects of automotive electronics and occupant safety. Mr. Jones is a native of England, where he completed his formal engineering education in electrical and mechanical engineering.

ALEXANDER MacLACHLAN retired as senior vice president of DuPont Research and Development in 1994. He joined the company in the Engineering Department and subsequently held numerous positions, including leader of research groups in photo imaging and in DuPont de Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH, director of the Research and Development Division of the Chemicals and Pigments Department, assistant director, then director of the Central Research and Development Department, and senior vice president of technology. Dr. MacLachlan is a member of the Board of Overseers, Fermi National Laboratory; a former director of the Industrial Research Institute; and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has published numerous articles in technical journals and holds several patents. Dr. MacLachlan has a B.S. in chemistry from Tufts College and a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

JONF. MERZ is an associate policy analyst with the RAND Corporation. He has more than seven years of risk analysis experience, as well as more than three years of experience in commercial and intellectual property law. His primary research interests involve technological risks and social policy, risk assessment and communication, and individual, regulatory, and judicial decision making under uncertainty. Dr. Merz holds a B.S. in nuclear engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an M.B.A. from the University of North Florida, a J.D. from Duquesne University Law School, and a Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

RICHARD M. MORROW is retired chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Amoco Corporation. Mr. Morrow joined Amoco Production Company, the Amoco subsidiary engaged in domestic exploration and production of oil and natural gas, in 1948. During the next two decades he held a number of engineering and managerial positions at various company locations in the United States. In 1966, Mr. Morrow was named as an executive vice president of Amoco International Oil Company, the Amoco subsidiary in charge of all overseas oil operations, before being named executive vice president of Amoco Chemical Company in 1970 and president of Amoco Chemical in 1974. He is a director

Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
×

of numerous companies, a former chairman of the National Academy of Engineering, and a trustee of the University of Chicago and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. Mr. Morrow has a B.S. in mining and petroleum engineering from Ohio State University.

BRUCE E. PETERMAN is senior vice president of aircraft development for Cessna Aircraft Company. A 40-year Cessna veteran, Mr. Peterman has served as a flight test engineer, chief of propulsion, manager of technical engineering, chief engineer, vice president of engineering, and senior vice president of operations. An associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mr. Peterman served as a member of the Aerospace Council and Technical Board of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He is a member of the Industry Advisory Committee for the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University and a life member of the WSU School of Engineering Dean's Circle, from whom he received the 1993 Distinguished Engineers Service Award. He has served on the advisory committees for Kansas University's Aerospace Engineering Department and School of Engineering, and as a trustee of the Kansas University Center for Research. He is on the board of directors of Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation and the board of governors of Wichita State University Endowment Association. Mr. Peterman has an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from Wichita State University and is an instrument-rated, multiengine pilot.

SUSAN ROSE-ACKERMAN is Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence (Law and Political Science), Yale University, and codirector of the Center for Studies in Law, Economics and Public Policy, Yale Law School. Professor Rose-Ackerman is the author of Rethinking the Progressive Agenda: The Reform of the American Regulatory State (1992); (with Estelle James) The Nonprofit Enterprise in Market Economies (1986); Corruption: A Study in Political Economy (1978); and (with others) The Uncertain Search for Environmental Quality (1974). Her forthcoming book on comparative administrative law is entitled Controlling Environmental Policy: The Limits of Public Law in Germany and the United States . Professor Rose-Ackerman earned her bachelor's degree in economics from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.

VICTOR E. SCHWARTZ is senior partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Crowell & Moring. He cochairs the firm's Torts and Insurance Practice Group. His practice involves litigation, the development of legislation, and product liability loss prevention. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Following positions on the faculty and as acting dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Mr.

Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Schwartz chaired the Federal Interagency Task Force on Product Liability and received the Secretary of Commerce's Special Medal for his efforts. He drafted the Uniform Product Liability Act, which has been the basis for most state legislation on product liability. Mr. Schwartz serves on the Advisory Committee of the Restatement of Torts (Third): Product Liability Project and chairs the Civil Justice Reform Committee of the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Legislative Committee of the ABA Litigation Section. He is a director of, and general counsel to, the American Tort Reform Association. In May 1994 the National Law Journal included Mr. Schwartz in its listing of the 100 most influential attorneys in the United States. Mr. Schwartz received his bachelor's degree from Boston University and his J.D. from Columbia University, where he was an editor of the Columbia Law Review.

FREDERICK B. SONTAG is president of Unison Industries, a $50 million manufacturer of aviation ignition systems and other engine components with plants in Jacksonville, Florida, and Rockford, Illinois. Unison ignitions provide sparks to run piston engine aircraft as well as the energy to light the fuel mixture on larger turboprop and turbojet aircraft. Almost every commercial airplane flying, from trainers to 747s, contains a Unison product. Mr. Sontag held various corporate positions before purchasing Slick Electro of Rockford, Illinois, in a leveraged buyout in 1980 and later renaming the company Unison. In 1989 Unison purchased the ignition product line from the Bendix Engine Products Division of Allied-Signal, Inc. and moved its headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Sontag is past chairman of the board of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), has served as GAMA's Product Liability Committee chairman, and is a trustee of Harvey Mudd College. He holds a B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College, an M.S. in physics from the University of Nevada, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Page 190
Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
×
Page 191
Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Page 192
Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Page 193
Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Page 194
Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
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Page 195
Suggested Citation:"Contributors." National Academy of Engineering. 1994. Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4768.
×
Page 196
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Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment Get This Book
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Product liability is a contentious issue. Proponents argue that American tort law promotes product safety. Manufacturers contend that lawsuits chill new product development.

Product Liability and Innovation provides an overview and an engineering perspective on the product liability system. The volume offers studies of selected industries, exploring the effect of product liability on corporate product development decisions and on the creative opportunities and day-to-day work of engineers.

The volume addresses the potential liability of the parts or materials supplier and discusses the impact of liability on the availability of insurance. It looks at "junk science" in the courtroom and analyzes opportunities to incorporate into product design what we know about human behavior and risk. The book also looks at current efforts at tort reform and compares U.S. injury claims handling with that of other countries.

This volume will be important to policymakers, industrialists, attorneys, product engineers, and individuals concerned about the impact of product liability on the industrial future.

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