Dr. Peter Alexander
Ph.D., Fellow AAFS, D-IBFES
Dr. Alexander has a strong Physics, Engineering, and Numerical Modeling background. He has a Ph.D. in Physics and has served as Research/Engineering Director at Foxboro Corp., Combustion Engineering, Schlumberger, TRW, and Bendix Corp. He has held positions in the Government, Academia, and Industry in which he managed large and small projects involving multidisciplinary groups of physicists and engineers. He currently serves as Physicist at Raymond Smith & Associates where he specializes in Accident Reconstruction, Product Failure, and Forensic Analysis.

EDUCATION:
Mass. Institute of Technology     1956      B.S. Physics

Purdue University     1961     Ph.D. Physics & Math

Calif. Institute of Technology     1961-64     Physics Faculty, Research Fellow

ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION
Dr. Alexander has worked on more than 1000 vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to pedestrian accident reconstructions. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). He has organized and participated in more than 50 vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to barrier crash tests to correlate vehicle damage and injury potential, with impact speed. He has been involved in a number of automobile airbag failure cases.
He is a technical reviewer for SAE papers submitted for publication in the accident reconstruction area. He is a member of the SAE Accident Investigation and Reconstruction Practices Committee, which recommends standards for accident investigation and accident reconstruction. Dr. Alexander is also a reviewer of technical papers for the Journal of Forensic Sciences. He is a past Chairman of the 200 member Engineering Sciences Section of the Academy. He has authored accident reconstruction technical papers, presented papers at AAFS and SAE annual meetings, and made technical presentations to groups of attorneys.
Dr. Alexander is Board Certified as a Diplomate of the International Board of Forensic Engineering Sciences.

VEHICLE SAFETY SYSTEMS
Dr. Alexander is expert with a variety of vehicle safety systems as they relate to accident reconstruction. These systems include the vehicle's black box (event data recorder), airbags, seat belts, seat backs, tires, and the elements comprising electronic stability control systems.

PRODUCT DEFECTS AND FAILURE
Dr. Alexander has strong credentials in the areas of product failure and troubleshooting. He has been deeply involved in product quality testing and quality improvement relating to commercial electronic and mechanical products. At TRW, Schlumberger, Combustion Engineering, and Foxboro Dr. Alexander had responsibility for design and engineering of new products, development of QA and QC procedures, development of product test procedures, working with manufacturing personnel to reduce defects and improve yield, and resolving issues relating to product failures in the field.

FORENSIC ANALYSIS
Mechanical and Electrical Failures - Dr. Alexander has strong credentials in the areas of electrical/electronic and mechanical products, product failure, and troubleshooting. He has been involved in product quality testing and quality improvement relating to commercial electronic and mechanical products.
Environmental Analysis - Dr. Alexander has considerable experience in the area of environmental measurements including gas sampling. He has worked with hazardous and toxic substances, including nuclear materials. He was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop methods for rapid sampling, separation, and analysis of atmospheric gas samples. He developed a portable gas chromatograph for the Gas Research Institute. He was responsible for environmental impact assessments and monitoring on a number of energy technology programs.
National Security Related Issues - Dr. Alexander devoted almost 10 years to National Security activities. He worked on detection of weapons of mass destruction. He also served as a Navy representative to the Atomic Energy Commission (now Department of Energy), Division of Military Applications.

NUMERICAL MODELING

Dr. Alexander has developed a number of numerical models involving the application of forces, geophysical phenomena, nuclear structure, and mechanical structures.

MECHANICAL STRUCTURES AND MATERIALS PROPERTIES
Dr. Alexander has managed programs involving the design of complex mechanical structures meant to safely withstand high stress and unusual forces during operation. Dr. Alexander managed a high-pressure test facility in Houston, where mechanical designs and various materials were subjected to high pressures and temperatures to evaluate their performance.

MICROSENSORS AND MICROELECTRONICS
Dr. Alexander has a broad sensor and microsensor development background, which also includes development of supporting microelectronics. He has developed sensor technology of many varieties. He was responsible for running a microfabrication facility.

REPORTS, PUBLICATIONS, AND PATENTS - More than seventy. A few of the most recent, accident reconstruction papers are listed below.

  • Making Your Car Safer. P.Alexander and J. Smith; Sensor Business Digest, May (1999)
  • Seventeen Motorcycle Crash Tests into Vehicles and A Barrier. K. Adamson, P. Alexander, E. Robinson, G. Johnson, C. Burkhead, J. McManus, G. Anderson, R. Aronberg, J. Kinney, D. Sallman; Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE 2002-01-0551
  • Correlation Between Vehicle Damage and Impact Speed in Low to Moderate Speed Rear-End Crash Tests. P. Alexander, D. Payne, J. Smith, R. Smith; Proceedings American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Feb. 2002
  • Is This a Case of Prosecutorial Misconduct? P.Alexander & J.Smith; Proceedings American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Feb. 17-22, 2003
  • An Approach to Understanding Injury Potential in Low Damage Automobile Collisions. P. Alexander; Trial Talk, June/July 2004
  • Understanding Injury Potential in Low Damage Automobile Collisions. P. Alexander; Proceedings American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Feb. 2005
  • How Prevalent Are Defective Automobile Air Bags. P. Alexander; Proceedings American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Feb. 2005
  • Litigating Major Automobile Injury and Death Cases, P. Alexander, ATLA Press 2006, Chapter 30 Comparison of Barrier Impact Crush and Vehicle to Vehicle Crush in Head-On Collisions. P. Alexander, Proceedings American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Feb. 2007
  • Book Review - Crashes and Collapses, P. Alexander, Journal of Forensic Science, November 2009
  • An Accident Reconstructionist's View of How the Rules of Evidence Affect Expert Testimony, P. Alexander, Proc. AAFS, Feb. 2010
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Dr. Alexander attends various professional society meetings, topical conferences, and presents technical papers.

ORGANIZATION POSITION DATE
Raymond P. Smith & Associates
Denver, Colorado
Senior Physicist 1998-
Various Clients Consultant 1997- 1998
Raytheon Engineers Senior Program Manager 1993-1997
EG&G Scientist
Waltham, Massachusetts
Senior Scientist 1992-1993
Foxboro Corp.
Foxboro, Massachusetts
Director Pressure Products
Director Microtechnology Products
1990-1992
Combustion Engineering Inc.
Rochester, New York
Director Measurement R&D
Senior Principal Engineer
1986-1990
Schlumberger Inc.
Houston, TX
Director of Research and Engineering 1983-1986
TRW Inc.
Colorado & Virginia
Manager-Instrumentation
Application Office
1977-1983
Bendix Field Engineering Corp.
Grand Junction, Colorado
Director Advanced Technology Division 1974-1977
Office of Naval Intelligence
Washington, D.C
Head Advanced Technology Branch 1971-1974

HONORS and AWARDS
University Awards
  • Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award
  • Westinghouse Science Talent Search Award
  • M.I.T. Scholarship
  • New York State Regents Scholarship
  • Purdue University X-R Fellowship
  • California Institute of Technology Research Fellowship
Physics and Engineering Honors
  • Mepham Award for Work in Physics (1965)
  • 2 NASA Patent Awards (1970)
  • Listed in American Men of Science, Who's Who in American Science, Who's Who in Frontier Science & Technology (1960's, 1970's)
  • Teledyne Award for Technical Achievement in Physics (1971)
  • Appointed Navy Member, Atomic Energy Commission Division of Military Applications - Nuclear Weapons Steering Group (1973)
  • Elected Chairman American Nuclear Society, Nuclear Standards
  • Subcommittee (1973-1974)
  • Chairman, Department of Energy Geophysical Technology Symposium (1976)
  • Session Chairman, International Conference on World Nuclear Energy (1975)
  • Chairman, DOE Conference on University Coal Research-Coal Gasification Working Group (1978)
  • Chairman, Society for Control and Instrumentation of Energy Processes, Subcommittee on Slurry Flow Measurements (1980-1982)
  • Assistant Program Chairman, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Nuclear Science Symposium (1981)
  • Elected to Board of Directors, Society for Instrumentation & Control of Energy Processes (1982)
  • Appointed to University of Chicago Program Review Committee for Argonne National Laboratory (1984-1990)
  • Appointed Chairman, DOE Scoping Workshop on Energy Engineering Research (1985)
  • Chairman, IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting- Microsensors Sessions (1987),
  • Appointed IEEE Detectors/ Sensors/ Displays Technical Subcommittee (1987 & '88), Chairman (1989)
  • Appointed Chairman, Committee to review all DOE Energy Instrumentation research programs (1990).
Recent Recognition
  • Invited technical presentation, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (2003)
  • Appointed Program Chairman, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Engineering Sciences Section (2005)
  • Elected Fellow of American Academy of Forensic Sciences (2006)
  • Invited author, Event Data Recorders chapter in text published by Association of Trial Lawyers of America (2005)
  • Invited panelist to review Colorado technology business startup ventures, CTEK (2006-2007)
  • Elected Engineering Sciences Section Chair, American Academy of Forensic Sciences (2008)
  • Certified by the International Board of Forensic Engineering Sciences (2010)