Team & Project Partner

Dr. Richard Hanowski 
is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Motorcycle Safety Solutions, Inc. and Motorcycle Safety Solutions Asia (M) Sdn. Bhd. (collectively, MSS). Together with Carl Cospel and Feng Guo, he established MSS in December 2023 as a spin-off company of Virginia Tech.

From 1996 to 2025, Dr. Hanowski served at Virginia Tech, holding multiple leadership roles at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) from 2003 until his retirement in April 2025. A recognized global leader in road safety, he became the founding Co-Chair of the International Road Federation (IRF Global) Powered Two-Wheeler Task Force in 2023. 

Dr. Hanowski has worked in transportation human factors research since 1991 and has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on more than $100 million in sponsored research, producing over 300 publications. His work emphasizes actionable health and safety research aimed at improving road safety and reducing global crash rates. His research has influenced national transportation policy, including regulations related to truck driver fatigue/hours-of-service and driver distraction/texting. 

He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2000. Dr. Hanowski received a Fulbright Scholar Award for the 2024–25 academic year, during which he worked at the Universiti Malaya to advance understanding of motorcycle safety challenges across Southeast Asia. 

Mr. Carl Cospel is an avid motorcycle rider. When not on two wheels he serves as the Hardware Engineering Laboratory Director at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI).  He also serves as the Director of Engineering for Falcon-Pursuit, a company that is focused on developing technologies to improve athlete safety and performance.  Mr. Cospel has been involved in the design, implementation, and installation of automotive data acquisition systems and sensors for over 20 years.  During this time, he has overseen the deployment of thousands of DAS for large scale naturalistic data collection research projects.  He has also led the development of several research focused automated driving vehicles.  His expertise includes systems engineering, embedded hardware and firmware development, software development, robotics, and mechanical design.  Mr. Cospel received his B.S. in Computer engineering in 2003 from Virginia Tech, and his M.B.A. with a Systems Engineering Management concentration from Virginia Tech in 2011.

Dr. Feng Guo is a Professor & Patricia Caldwell Fellow in the Department of Statistics at Virginia Tech, where he also serves as the Lead Data Scientist at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. His research spans methodological and applied areas of quantitative transportation modeling including statistical methodologies, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI), particularly emphasizing driving risk assessment, as well as the evaluation of advanced and automated driving systems.  Dr. Guo has extensive experience in telematics-based driver risk prediction models with application for ride-hailing driver risk prediction, safe routing, and fleet safety management.  Dr. Guo received dual Ph.Ds. in transportation engineering (2010) and statistics (2007) from the University of Connecticut. 

Stefan Pertz, Co-Founder of Asian Trucker Media
Editor, Asian Trucker Malaysia and Asian Buses

Stefan Pertz is the founder and of Launchpad and Co-Founder of Asian Trucker. He has lived and worked in six countries, most of them Asian. His first assignment took him to Hong Kong, where he worked as the on-site project manager on the new airport, supervising the installation of the furniture in the departure hall. After graduation in 2005, Stefan returned to Asia He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Management, which he completed cum laude.

Mike brings more than 15 years of experience leading software product and user experience teams, specializing in turning complex ideas into intuitive, high-impact digital products. Teams under his leadership have designed and launched more than 30 web and mobile applications for organizations ranging from early-stage startups to some of the world’s largest enterprises, on four continents. His work spans a wide range of industries, including finance, telecom, education, energy, transportation, business services, retail, video games, and government.

Mike's focus is to serve as a strategic bridge between technology, business objectives, and the needs of users, bringing deep expertise in software product management, user experience research and design, product design, and product strategy. Known for aligning cross-functional teams around a shared vision, Mike is driven by uncovering the human stories behind every product and translating them into experiences that create lasting value for both users and organizations.

Dr. Ir. Sevty Auliani, S.T., M.T

is a human factors and ergonomics researcher and consultant specializing in transportation safety and fatigue risk management in high-risk, safety-critical operations. Her work supports applied fieldstudies in Indonesia across rail, mining, and oil & gas, combining questionnaires, performance-based measures, and data analytics to deliver practical, implementable safety recommendations. She is also conducting research on technology-enabled disaster risk management.

Muhammad Hazazi bin Saidpudin is an Automotive Technology graduate with over 10 years of experience in automotive mechanics and more than 5 years in road safety technology development. During his time at the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), he led several key projects, including the development of a motorcycle forward collision warning system that received RM400,000 in R&D funding. He also developed the detection and alert system for the “No Child Left Behind” initiative, aimed at preventing child deaths in vehicles. His work has received national and international recognition, including awards from the International Road Federation (IRF) and the Innovation and Creativity Group (KIK).

Hazazi is skilled in embedded systems, sensor integration, C++ programming, and 3D printing, applying these in building practical and affordable safety solutions for vehicles. He is also a certified vocational trainer and riding safety facilitator, actively involved in community outreach and training. Hazazi is currently pursuing a Mechanical Engineering Technology degree at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM).

Shu Han, PhD, is a Research Associate at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) with expertise in transportation safety analytics for over 10 years. She holds a Ph.D. in Transportation Planning and Management and an M.S.in Statistics, and is completing additional doctoral degree in Statistics at Virginia Tech.

Her work focuses on driver behavior safety analysis, roadway infrastructure safety, crash risk modeling, and ADAS effectiveness assessment. She has extensive experience working with large data such as naturalistic driving study (NDS) and field operational test (FOT) data. As an experienced statistician and a certified SAS advanced programmer, she applies advanced statistical and machine learning methods using SQL, SAS, and R to support safety research, performance evaluation, and actionable guidance for government agencies and industry partners.

Today, Jeremy works with early-stage and mission-driven teams on commercialization, innovation, and business strategy. He is also a Managing Partner at Evolve Impact, where he supports founders and leadership teams in improving execution, organizational effectiveness, and leadership practices that scale. Jeremy is known for being steady, thoughtful, and direct, and for helping teams move from ideas to practical outcomes.

Puven has more than a decade of experience in client relationship management and solution delivery within the automotive and mobility space. He specializes in turning complex technical ideas into simple, practical explanations for clients, and translating real‑world needs back into clear requirements for technical teams.

At Motorcycle Safety Solutions Asia, Puvendran works across a wide spectrum of partners from governance and policy‑driven stakeholders working at a top‑down level to industry and commercial teams driving bottom‑up adoption. He supports the deployment of MSS solution while leading User Experience (UX) initiatives to ensure the technology is intuitive, user‑friendly, and effective in everyday operations.

Puven focuses on building long-term, trusted relationships and ensuring that partners continue to see value throughout the life cycle of their safety programs. His approach emphasizes retention, clear communication between technical and non‑technical groups, and delivering meaningful improvements to rider and road safety