Judson B. Welcher

Dr. Judson Welcher is a Biomechanical Engineer and Accident Reconstructionist with Aperture (formerly Biomechanical Research and Testing). Judson has been employed in the field of biomechanical engineering and accident reconstruction for over 28 years. He specializes in trauma causation and prevention, human tolerance, restraint design, instrumented testing with humans and anthropomorphic test devices), accident reconstruction, and amusement park rider tolerances. Judson has consulted on thousands of civil and criminal forensic cases; he has testified in local, state, and federal courts regarding accident reconstruction and biomechanical engineering across the country. Judson has qualified and testified as an expert in over 200 trials.

Judson holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo and a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California. His dissertation research focused on developing and testing a new sensor for quantifying the loads within the human lumbar spine under various conditions and his master’s thesis was titled “Whiplash Associated Disorders: Related Anatomy, Biomechanics of Injury, and the Relationship Between Injury Potential and Automotive Seat Design.”

Judson has been accredited through the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstructionists (ACTAR) since 1995 and during that time has performed and analyzed over 1,000 staged instrumented human volunteer crash tests and authored over 45 technical publications and presentations on collision trauma biomechanics, injury causation, human tolerance, automotive seat design, head restraint design, and accident reconstruction. He has taught classes in the areas of accident reconstruction and biomechanical engineering for Texas A&M Engineering Extension Services (TEEX), the Collision Safety Institute (CSI), and the Riverside Clark Training Center for Law Enforcement & Public Safety Training. Due to his extensive experience, Judson has been invited to speak to audiences of engineers, accident reconstructionists, law enforcement personnel, physicians, and attorneys at various conferences and seminars. Notably, many aspects of his research have been featured on television shows like 60 Minutes, Nightline, Discovery Channel, and various news channels across the country.

Judson is a member of the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and Southwestern Association of Technical Accident Investigators (SATAI). He is also a member of the ASTM International - F24 Committee on Amusement Rides and Devices.