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by: WFXRtv.com Digital Desk

Caption: Ph.D. research fellow Tate Fonville (in red) and engineering student assistant William Dean (in blue) set up a model helmet for testing at the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) twin-wire drop tower at Libertys Center for Engineering Research & Education (CERE). (Courtesy: Ellie Richardson/Liberty University)

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) Dr. Mark Horstemeyer and his team of Ph.D. research peers and undergraduate students at Liberty University have developed afootballhelmetthat became one of four finalists in the NFLs sixth-annual 1st and Futurepitch competition.

According to the university, the winners were announcedon Tuesday, Feb. 2 on the NFL Network, as part of Super Bowl LV Week in Tampa, Florida, with $150,000 in awards and research grants on the line.

The entry submitted in the Innovations to Advance Player Health and Safety category of the competition by Liberty Universitys team was named the runner-up prize winner and awarded $25,000, which Horstemeyer says will be used to develop the project further in preparation for this summers NFLHelmetChallenge.

Using an approach trademarked at Liberty University that he calls Creationeering, Horstemeyer incorporated properties found in nature to design afootballhelmetthat is twice as effective at preventing concussions as those currently used by the NFL.

By analyzing shock absorptive properties found in the rack of a bighorn sheep and the beak of a woodpecker, the team has worked to design a saferhelmet, as well as potentially more protective car bumpers.

The team has developed a shock-wave-mitigatinghelmetthat better protects the brain from concussions and encephalitis, both of which have been career-enders for many professional footballplayers, resulting in life-altering consequences and, in some cases, death.

Ourhelmetfacemask is different in that the geometry was optimized to minimize damage in the brain, Tate Fonville said. Ourhelmetliner is different in that it uses a new proprietary patented auxetic foam that protects a player from a range of impacts, is superior at impact absorption, and offers longer life than conventional foams.

Horstemeyer says the same principles used in thefootballhelmetcan also be applied in other sports helmets, ranging from baseball and lacrosse to equestrian and hockey.

The team also plans to submit an updated version of itshelmetdesign by July 14 into the NFL HelmetChallenge, a $1 million competition to stimulate the development of a newhelmetthat outperforms all models currently available to NFL players, based onlaboratory testing.

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Liberty engineering teams helmet prototype earns second place in NFLs 1st and Future competition - WFXRtv.com