WVU researcher among Time Magazine’s Top 100 pioneers

 WVU Researcher Dan Carder was named in TIME Magazine's Top 100 Following Volkswagen's Emissions Scandal.

WVU researcher Dan Carder

As Volkswagen's legal battle continues, a leader of the WVU research team that discovered the emissions scandal will appear on the TIME Magazine 100.

Dan Carder's name will appear next to notable figures like President Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Nicki Minaj on this year's list.

He said the exposure and support gained from this emissions research has been "overwhelming."

"You'd never expect to see your name on a list with those people, particularly because we were just kind of doing our job, and even more so because it was a group effort," said Dan Carder, director of the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions.

TIME Magazine categorizes Carder as a "pioneer" on this year's list.

Of all the noteworthy names on the list, one in particular stands out. He said he hopes to meet mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey now that they share something in common.

“I actually watch UFC from time to time, and as an athlete, she’s probably one of the most dominate athletes in her sport, in the history of all sports.” 

Time Magazine story about Carder by Ralph Nader, perhaps  America’s most famous consumer advocate:

TIME 100 Pioneers

Dan Carder

By Ralph Nader

 

Driver of accountability

Working with his small team of researchers at West Virginia University, Dan Carder exposed a giant corporation’s harmful fraud: although VW’s diesel-engine cars passed lab tests for EPA regulations for emissions of toxic nitrogen oxides, on the road the cars were emitting up to 35 times as much NOx into the air. The uproar has thrown VW—then the world’s largest automaker—into a maelstrom of law-enforcement actions, private mass litigation and loss of dealer and customer confidence. Eleven million of its cars will have to be fixed or repurchased—which could cost VW as much as $20 billion.

With over 500,000 such diesel cars affected in the U.S. and many millions abroad, why was it Carder who caught the problem, instead of the EPA, 50 state motor-vehicle departments or their counterparts in other countries?

Carder’s team is not waiting for excuses. As we enter a new era of pro-consumer testing, we can thank Dan Carder for reporting the facts that show the way.

Nader, a consumer advocate, wrote the landmark book “Unsafe at Any Speed.”