Max Donath’s efforts have been focused on keeping the driver in the loop, using sensing technologies, control systems, and improved human-machine interfaces to reduce driver error and thus prevent crashes before they happen. His research over the years can be grouped into three areas: collision avoidance and active safety, novel human-machine interfaces for providing improved situation awareness to the driver and pedestrian, and reducing age-related risky driving behavior. He served as director of the Roadway Safety Institute from 2013 until 2019 and director of the ITS Institute from 1997 to 2013, both USDOT-designated University Transportation Centers. More recently, he and his colleagues have been working on providing improved situation awareness for snowplow operators who need to clear roads under white-out conditions. This driver-assist system is presently undergoing field operational tests at nine sites in Minnesota.
On the teaching front, Donath and a team of students have developed an instructional robotics laboratory in the mechanical engineering department designed to educate engineers about the design, control, and programming of robot manipulators and cobots.
Donath received a BEng in mechanical engineering from McGill University in 1972 and went on to earn a PhD degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the University of Minnesota in 1978 and was appointed emeritus professor of mechanical engineering in 2025.