University of Nebraska-Lincoln civil engineering staff and students are embarking on a project to protect you during severe weather.Video: UNL engineering staff, students embark on project to protect you during severe weatherWith the newest technology, they examined some of the oldest buildings destroyed by the Pilger tornado nearly a year ago."It was a unique opportunity to collect data for the greater structural engineering community," UNL professor Richard Wood said.Days after an EF4 tornado destroyed Pilger, Wood and Ph.D. civil engineering student Ebriham Mohammadi traveled to the village on a mission to save lives. Using a $30,000 laser and photos captured by a drone, the team collected data on the collapsed 105-year-old Pilger Middle School."In the middle school, if anyone was trying to find a safe room or anything like that, that would've been very hard," Mohammadi said.Technology created a 3-D model of Pilger Middle School. Engineering software allowed them to align the photos on the model to create an image ready for structural analysis in the lab."For the conclusions we are trying to quantify and examine the complex deformations," Wood said.In the case of Pilger Middle School, the team examined the corner where a flying grain silo hit the building. They also wanted to know why certain parts of the roof stayed intact and others collapsed."It will raise the questions of previous designs and previous methods for designing the buildings if they're actually working as they are aimed to," Mohammadi said.The answers they seek will eventually help civil engineers nationwide, not only for new construction designs, but also renovating historic buildings in ways that can make them stronger and safer."By learning how these reinforced masonry buildings perform, we have input for retrofit solutions or mitigation tactics, to reduce or better make our community safer," Wood said.