Carol Tan, Ph. D. ’83 is the team leader of safety and data analysis for the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Safety Research and Development. Carol’s areas of expertise include data analysis research and development, geographic information systems coordination, highway safety information systems, model minimum inventory of roadway elements, motorcycle crash causation studies, safety management research, and wildlife-vehicle crashes.

She was the 1997 recipient of the Arthur S. Flemming Award in the category of applied science, which honors outstanding federal employees across all areas of federal service. Other notable recipients of this award include Neil Armstrong, Elizabeth Dole, and Anthony Fauci. Carol also received the 2019 Ronald C. Pfefer Outstanding Paper Award for the TRB High Safety Performance Committee.

Carol earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Texas A&M University in 1988 and 1991 and received her doctorate in civil engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 2005.

She continues to give back to Mercy by participating in the Mentor Program, where she served as a mentor to Valery Caicedo ’22 in 2021. At Mercy, Carol loved her Introductory to Physical Science class, as the laboratory experiments prepared her well for the laboratory classes she took while studying civil engineering. Carol’s leadership in her field and her loyalty to Mercy High School reflect the integrity and compassion she embodies every single day.