Center for Injury Biomechanics

The Center for Injury Biomechanics investigates injury mechanisms following trauma to develop a greater understanding human tolerance to injury, to engineer enhanced safety countermeasures and to mitigate the occurrence of serious injury in society. Using Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS), the CIB has developed ways to reduce trauma from head injuries. 

The center uses a multidisciplinary approach to solving real-world biomechanics problems, combining the biomedical expertise at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center with Virginia Tech’s top-rated college of Engineering.

Applications of this research are far-reaching and include automobile safety, military safety, and sports biomechanics. VT-WFU CIB is one of 6 national CIREN (Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network) centers studying real-world crash data to improve highway safety. The center has extensive facilities for conducting computational modeling and experimental research towards the development of improved human impact injury criteria.

As a member of the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, our center offers an excellent opportunity for graduate student education through a variety of biomechanics courses and research experience.