Nichole Morris's main research interests are in transportation, especially as it relates to multi-sensory perception, aging, judgment and decision making, gender biases in trauma care, usability, and human factors. Her most recent research has examined pedestrian safety programs, speeding behaviors, work zone intrusion mitigation and documentation, rural intersection designs, police pursuits, vehicle collision detection and warnings with non-motorist road users, and in-vehicle displays for snowplow lane guidance. Her previous work has examined crash data collection, driver fatigue detection, in-vehicle support systems for at-risk road users, in-vehicle messaging systems, connected vehicles warning systems, stakeholder support for automated speed enforcement, and lane departure warning systems.
Morris received a PhD in psychology (human factors) from Wichita State University in 2011. She also holds a MA and BA (with honors) in psychology from Wichita State University. She is the director of the HumanFIRST Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Her other appointments include: associate graduate faculty, Infrastructure and Environmental Systems, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; graduate faculty, Human Factors and Ergonomics, College of Design, University of Minnesota; adjunct assistant professor, Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Minnesota; adjunct assistant professor, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota.