Dean Sicking

Even before NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt lost his life at Daytona 500, the racing industry had tabbed UNL professor Dean Sicking and the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility to help them engineer safer racetrack barriers.

Now, six years later, numerous drivers claim the roadside safety facility's Steel And Foam Energy Reduction barrier has indeed saved their lives. And they're thanking Sicking and his team. The SAFER barrier has spotlighted the MwRSF as the place to turn for roadside safety testing and engineering, gaining the attention and acclaim of national and international media, the racing industry and even the White House.

Sicking received the National Medal of Technology - the nation's highest award for technology and innovation - from President George W. Bush at a ceremony at the White House July 31. The innovation award honored Sicking's team's work with the SAFER barrier and other roadside safety innovations.

When Sicking isn't traveling to Indy Racing League and NASCAR racetracks, consulting on phases of SAFER barrier installation, he's crashing vehicles at Lincoln Airport and working in the Nebraska Transportation Center labs, assessing new transportation barrier and safety systems to make drivers, passengers and pedestrians safer on all our roadways.