About Us
PRG consists of the top researchers in the field of traffic safety. Our staff come from a variety of backgrounds including Experimental Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, Communications and Biology. Our diverse backgrounds lend to creative investigation of a wide array of traffic safety topics.
For general inquiries, please send mail to PRG@Preussergroup.com or our diversified staff can assist you on a variety of topics. Please contact the staff member whose activities are most closely related to your query or comment.
Our Staff
Mark Solomon*
Mark Solomon, Owner/President, holds the M.S. degree in Sociology from Mississippi State University.
Before joining PRG, Mr. Solomon was a crash data analyst with the Florida Department of Highway Safety where he provided
analytical support to the Governor's Office and legislature as well as state and local agencies.
Since joining PRG, Mr. Solomon has successfully managed a large number of highway safety projects for the National Traffic Safety Administration,
the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and many States’ Highway Safety
Offices including Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Mr. Solomon
is currently working on projects to improve seat belt use and to reduce distracted driving.
He also serves as a reviewer for the Transportation Research Board’s Occupant Protection Committee.
Neil Chaudhary
Neil Chaudhary, Owner/CEO, holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the City University of New York (CUNY). While at CUNY, he taught experimental design, introductory psychology and social psychology. He conducted research in the areas of cognitive and social psychology. He is a former committee member and current communications coordinator of the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee. He is also a current member of TRB’s Occupant Protection Committee. Dr. Chaudhary also serves as a member of Connecticut’s Safe Teen Safe Driving Committee and DUI Task Force. He has published extensively in a variety of areas of traffic safety including: Distracted Driving; Occupant Protection; Older Drivers; Alcohol and Drugs; Teen Drivers; Costs of Crashes; and Crash Analysis. Dr. Chaudhary has completed NHTSA studies exploring the costs to Medicaid budgets for numerous states. He has helped pioneer methods to allow nighttime seatbelt observations in all lighting conditions. He has completed statewide nighttime seatbelt use surveys in Connecticut and has evaluated a nighttime seat belt enforcement initiative in Reading, Pennsylvania. He was project director for the evaluation of NHTSA’s distracted driving demonstration project in California and Delaware and was project director for the Syracuse, New York/Hartford, Connecticut and Delaware/ Sacramento Region, California Distracted driver programs. Neil has just completed a project with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety examining secondary (distracting) behaviors during daytime and nighttime under a variety of driving conditions.
Robert Chaffe*
Robert Chaffe graduated with a BS in Engineering/Telecommunications from the University of Mississippi. Since joining PRG, Robert has assisted on NHTSA evaluations of widely publicized law enforcement programs used to improve safety belt usage and decrease drunk driving. Robert is currently assisting in a study for The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tracking behavioral changes of truck drivers with respect to hours of service rules. Robert also manages PRG’s data entry team located in the Oxford Office.
William A. Leaf
William A. Leaf holds a Ph.D. degree in Experimental Psychology from Yale University. He taught statistics at Carnegie Mellon University; developed computer and statistical applications training for NHTSA; and applied statistical analysis to NHTSA and state crash files. Dr. Leaf also directed our teen longitudinal survey. High school freshmen in four states were surveyed by telephone at six month intervals throughout their high school years. The surveys provided detailed information, over time, concerning their learning to drive, licensing and driving experiences. Other current and recent projects include: a study of racial/cultural factors in pedestrian alcohol crashes; a survey of Florida parents and students concerning their new "Graduated Licensing" law; evaluation of graduated licensing in California; and evaluation of "voluntary" graduated licensing in Connecticut.
Katie Raboin
Katie Raboin (formerly Ledingham) graduated with a BA in Communications from Central Connecticut State University. She has two years of experience working for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Division of Highway Safety. She worked on both state and federal projects which included Connecticut's 157 plan and evaluation (innovative belt use initiatives) for NHTSA, MADD youth education initiatives and public information and education outreach to various CT communities. At PRG, Ms. Raboin is now working on projects that involve seat belt use rates for Connecticut and New Hampshire, as well as Connecticut's sTEP Wave seat belt program.
William J. Nissen
William Nissen is a graduate of Michigan State University, and holds an MBA in marketing from New York University. He has extensive experience in market research and survey data collection and was formerly a product development manager for General Electric. Mr. Nissen assisted in the design and implementation of a telephone survey of New York drivers in support of the Thruway Buckle Up project. He also participated in a study of underage alcohol purchase and our evaluation of Community Traffic Safety programs and prepared case studies for a youth alcohol enforcement project for the Justice Department (sub-contract to the Police Executive Research Forum). Recently, he collected field data in support of studies involving the handling characteristics of tandem trucks, "red-light running," and false I.D. Mr. Nissen has conducted focus groups with SADD students and with motorists using the Capital Beltway. Currently, he is developing case study reports for our evaluation of Buckle Up America. He is also working on a project to evaluate some of the leading causes of certain types of crashes at intersections.
Julie Tison
Julie Tison obtained a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the City University of New York (CUNY) after getting her B.A. in psychology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She held a position as Assistant Professor at New York City College of Technology (CUNY). While at CUNY, she taught experimental methods, cognitive psychology and, industrial/organizational psychology. Before joining PRG, she did research on ambivalent attitudes, personality predictors of unhealthy/sedentary behaviors, and cultural differences in learning styles. Julie is currently involved in research for the National Academy of Sciences on technique to reduce speeding drivers.
Joyce Wolfe
Joyce W. Connolly graduated from Fort Hays State University with a MS in general/experimental psychology. She has extensive experience in program evaluation and survey research gained during previous employment with the Docking Institute of Public Affairs both as a research scientist and as manager of their Center for Survey Research. Prior to working for PRG, she was involved in a wide variety of survey research projects, and conducted evaluations of federally funded projects focusing on early childhood development, violence prevention, and alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) prevention. Currently Joyce is working on several projects for NHTSA including a project exploring medical outcomes of older persons injured in motor vehicle crashes. She is also analyzing media awareness data for NHTSA’s Next Generation of Click It or Ticket program. Joyce is a member of the American Evaluation Association and the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
* - PRG South
Our Founder
We unexpectedly lost our founder, boss, colleague and friend in May 2015. Dr. David F. Preusser was born in Norwalk, CT and lived most of his life in Fairfield County. He received a B.A. from Fordham University, an M.A. from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Yale University. He was a Second Lieutenant in the Army Reserve.
David founded PRG on May 3, 1990 with a staff of just three people. The company grew over the past 25 years to support a successful workforce of professionals in two full-time offices (Trumbull, CT and Oxford, MS). David was very proud of the company he built; it showed in his extraordinary work ethic and many years of dedication. David was a strong leader and valued mentor; we all learned a great deal from him. The most important lesson he taught all of us is that our work isn’t just about collecting data and analyzing statistics, it’s about saving lives. Every driver on the road is a mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son, friend, spouse, significant other, etc. Evaluating highway safety programs geared toward saving lives, changing driver behavior, and improving the overall safety of the driving public was his passion.
David achieved many accomplishments in his nearly 45 year career. His research has been published extensively and recognized internationally. His wealth of knowledge and experience in the transportation safety research arena was unmatched, and he was widely respected by colleagues and clients alike. David was truly a pioneer in the field, and his innovative research helped save thousands of lives since he became involved in this line of work in 1971. We’re honored to have worked with him for so many years and look forward to carrying on his legacy in the future.