Pnina Gershon

Pnina Gershon, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab & Center for Transportation and Logistics.

Dr. Gershon's research aims to promote safe driving and effective human-vehicle interaction by understanding how human physiology, psycho-social attributes, environmental characteristics and emerging technologies, influence driving behaviors. Her research utilizes simulation, field testing, naturalistic driving studies, and advanced analytics to examine the role of automation and advanced driver assistance technology on driver’s behavior and driving safety. Dr. Gershon has extensive experience in designing and leading research studies in the areas of alcohol and drug-impaired driving, fatigue, driver distraction, speeding, motorcycle conspicuity, and high-risk driver populations including young drivers, older drivers, and professional drivers.

Prior to joining MIT AgeLab, Dr. Gershon completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she studied the contextual nature of risky driving behaviors among novice teenage drivers. Before that, Dr. Gershon was a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University working with Dr. Roberta Klatzky on haptic interaction and computational modeling of multimodal assistive technologies. Dr. Gershon received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management (2011) from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel where she also served as the Research Manager of the Driving Simulation and Safety Laboratory.

Dr. Gershon is an invited member of the National Academies of Sciences Transportation Research Board's Committee on Operator Education and Regulation and a member in the Young Driver Subcommittee. Dr. Gershon received the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (2018), NICHD Collaboration Award (2017) and Leading Women in Science Award (2008). Her research has been published in prestigious scientific journals and leading conferences as well as featured in the press including the New York Times, Reuters, NIH press and more.