Career Dean L. Sicking

1 career

1.1 inventions

1.1.1 energy absorbing guardrail terminals
1.1.2 safer barrier
1.1.3 performance standards


1.2 sports safety research
1.3 awards , positions

career

beginning @ texas a&m, transitioning university of nebraska-lincoln, , @ university of alabama @ birmingham, sicking has devoted professional career application of energy management principles reduce risk of serious injury , death on nation’s highways, race tracks, , more on football fields , ice rinks.

inventions

sicking holds 30 patents, 5 significant of are: first energy absorbing guardrail terminal, first crash cushion without sacrificial energy absorbers, first guardrail capable of containing large suv’s, trailer mounted impact attenuator, , nascar’s steel , foam energy reduction (safer) barrier. these technologies have revolutionized respective markets. have been adopted around globe , produced major reductions in number of serious injuries , fatalities along highways , race tracks.

sicking’s innovations have produced more $1.3 billion in sales , have prevented thousands of serious injuries , fatalities.

furthermore, sicking has been principal or co-principal investigator on research projects total extramural funding in excess of $30 million. has authored or co-authored more 200 technical reports, more 70 refereed journal papers , 7 books. additionally, sicking has developed functional performance standards number of different impact attenuation systems, including developing nationally accepted performance standards roadside safety features. sicking in final stages of development safer hockey boards , football helmet can decouple rotation of helmet rotation of head.

energy absorbing guardrail terminals

sicking has devoted career designing impact energy management systems, focusing on crashworthy safety systems. sicking has developed numerous “next generation” designs have reduced risk of injury , fatality motorists, highway drivers nascar racers. first global success et-2000, first energy absorbing guardrail terminal – device sits on end of guardrail, flattening guardrail when hit vehicle. first study of device showed out of 400 crashes, there 3 injuries , no fatalities—reducing risk factor of 10. detailed research data , real-world results showing product success, sicking says gets satisfaction personal testimonial.

“the first time thing ever got hit when young lady driving home library @ university of texas,” sicking explains. “she driving small pickup truck cruise control set @ highway speeds when fell asleep , drifted off road. hit guardrail @ 65 or 70 miles per hour, , injury bruise across chest caused seat belt. got nice letter father describing crash. felt have been killed if had hit 1 of other common guardrail systems, , there high probability right. hear father daughter walked away unhurt—you live moments that.”

the first implementation of et-2000 in united states caused market prices soar. alleviate issue, sicking created second energy absorbing systems offered meaningful competition in order reduce costs without sacrificing safety performance. these 2 guardrail terminals used in united states, canada, , australia.

building on first guardrail designs, sicking developed first guardrail system capable of safely accommodating light trucks , suv’s. center of gravity , bumper heights of suv’s , light trucks increased, pre-1990 guardrails based designs on low bumper height vehicles no longer sufficient. larger vehicles began exhibit tendency rollover, vault, or rupture guardrails. sicking led team develop guardrail system addressed needs of vehicle, increasing rail mounting height, moving rail splices posts midspan, , increasing blockout depth 4 inches. date, 27 states have adopted guardrail design, 10 more adopting it, , remaining 13 have adopted or evaluating slight variation of system.

safer barrier

following dale earnhardt’s fatal wreck in 2001, nascar commissioned sicking determine specific cause of earnhardt’s worst injuries. sicking use video footage analyze , reconstruct crash, nascar’s worst crashes on 10 years prior. ultimately, investigation contributed development of sicking’s best-known invention, safer barrier, energy management system reduces impact felt driver flexing , absorbing energy. prior barrier, nascar , indycar averaged approximately 1.5 driver fatalities yearly. since safer barrier’s implementation in 2004, no fatalities or serious injuries associated safer barrier’s impact have occurred. in fact, remotely serious injury sustained has been broken sternum. magnitude of impact of sicking’s technologies best illustrated driver comments safer barrier:

performance standards

sicking has assisted in development of fundamental performance standards have altered energy management systems in highway safety. has resulted in increase in required safety performance of roadside safety systems. second author of standards roadside safety adopted in 1993 , principle author of manual assessing safety hardware, adopted federal highway administration in 2010 , used standard. these standards have since been implemented in canada, australia, israel, , of europe well. sicking’s quantitative , qualitative crash analyses, similar used nascar, critical components of these standards.

sports safety research

in 2011, sicking turned attention impact energy management in sports. serious neck injuries in hockey relatively infrequent can catastrophic. impacts rigid walls can produce decelerations of on 100 g’s, causing severe concussions , quadriplegia. sicking led creation of energy absorbing walls have been shown reduce head decelerations 50% under severe impact conditions. these walls designed flex , extend during impacts, reducing peak g’s on player’s head absorbing energy of impact. sicking applying same concept develop both improved helmet impact performance standards , helmet more flexible , can decouple head rotation helmet rotation, reducing peak g’s on head.

awards , positions

in recognition of effects on roadside , motorsports safety, sicking elected charter fellow of national academy of inventors, , president george w. bush awarded him 2005 national medal of technology , innovation (nmti). nmti highest honor united states can bestow on citizen technologies have made positive contribution welfare of nation. sicking’s efforts have won him first-awarded pioneering , innovation award in history of autosport magazine, in 2004, work on safer barrier. has received 2011 ken stonex award, presented transportation research board committee on roadside safety design, in recognition of lifetime of achievement in crashworthiness design. texas motorsports hall of fame awarded sicking 2005 vision award contributions racing safety, , countless individual raceways have honored him awards, including nascar’s 2003 bill france junior award excellence, pocono raceway’s 2004 bill france award of excellence, indianapolis motor speedway’s herb porter award in 2004, , 2002 motorsports engineering award society of automotive engineers , specialty equipment market association, among numerous others.

sicking serves associate vice president commercialization , product development @ university of alabama @ birmingham, president of own company – sicking safety systems. formally served director of midwest roadside safety facility, during time developed safer barrier. additionally, sicking has served on number of boards , committees, including former position chairman of transportation research board 2003 2006 , current positions on scientific advisory committee of national operating committee on standards athletic equipment (nocsae) , advisory committee national football league (nfl) engineering subcommittee. sicking possesses license professional engineer (pe) in both civil , mechanical engineering.