Dr. Mark Rosekind will be leaving the National Transportation Safety Board to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency under heavy fire this year for lapses in the face of vehicle recalls and safety defects.
Rosekind’s departure will leave the NTSB at its minimum three members needed to conduct normal business. Earlier this year, Chairwoman Deborah Hersman left the Board for a position with the National Safety Council.
Rosekind spent the past four years as an NTSB board member. A noted fatigue research expert, he previously served as chief of the Aviation Operations Branch at the NASA Ames Research Center, where he studied fatigue countermeasures. He is also the founder of Alertness Solutions, a scientific consulting firm that specializes in fatigue management.
“Mark is a leader ready-made for this critical responsibility and I expect him to hold not only the auto industry accountable, but I also expect him to help us raise the bar on safety ever higher within the U.S. Department of Transportation and among all of our stakeholders,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.
The NHTSA has been lacking a permanent head since David Strickland resigned from the agency in December 2013. Rosekind must be confirmed by Congress for the post.
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