Bruce D. Greenshields was a prominent traffic researcher. He was born in Winfield, Kansas and grew up in Blackwell, Oklahoma. During World War I he was with the Army Signal Corps. He was a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and earned his Masters Degree and Doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan. During his long teaching career he taught at Marquette University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Denison University, College of the City of New York, the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York University, the George Washington University and Michigan.
He was a prolific author having written numerous articles on traffic behavior and highway safety. He was a pioneer in the use of photography relating to traffic matters and invented the "Drivometer," a driver testing device. He was a pioneer in applying mathematics to traffic flow.
During World War I Dr. Greenshields was with the Air Service of the US Army. He also served as City Engineer of Granville, Ohio and worked with the Ohio State Highway Department and the Wisconsin State Highway Commission.
He taught at the George Washington University for ten years and in 1956 joined the University of Michigan faculty and was Acting Director of the Transportation Institute there until his retirement in 1966. He then returned to Washington and was a traffic consultant to various federal agencies. Dr. Greenshields received the Matson Memorial Award in 1976.