Ronald Faller

Contact Information:

City Campus (Lincoln)
130R WHIT
(402) 472-6864
rfaller1@unl.edu

Willa Cather Research Professor - Civil and Environmental Engineering
Director - Midwest Roadside Safety Facility

Academic Degrees

  • Ph.D., Structural Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1998
  • M.S., Structural Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1989
  • B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1986

Certifications

  • Ph.D., P.E.

Curriculum Vitae (CV):

Areas of Research and Professional Interest

Structural Engineering

Transportation Safety Engineering

Roadside Safety Hardware and Design

Vehicle Containment Systems

Energy Management

Product Development

Motorsports Safety

Force Protection, Physical Security, and Threat Mitigation

Impact Testing

Research Profiles:

Honors and Awards

  • Best Paper Award - "Vehicle Collision Load Design Demands for Deck Overhangs with Parapet Railings", 2024
  • National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow, Class of 2022
  • Breakthrough Innovation of the Year, Delta Crash Cushion, 2021
  • Prem S. Paul Innovator of the Year, 2021
  • Best Paper Award - "Development, Crash Testing, and Evaluation of Steel-Post, Trailing-End, Guardrail Anchorage System", 2021
  • Kenneth A. Stonex Roadside Safety Award, 2020
  • Best Paper Award - "Development of a Test Level 4, Side-Mounted, Steel-Tube Bridge Rail", 2020
  • Best Paper Award - "Development of a 34-In. Tall Thrie Beam Guardrail Transition to Accommodate Future Roadway Overlays", 2019
  • Best Paper Award - "Development of a Standardized Buttress for Approach Guardrail Transitions", 2018
  • SAE John Melvin Motorsport Safety Award, 2017
  • IRSC Best Overall Paper Award - "Initial Developments Supporting a Roadside Tree Removal Marketing Campaign", 2017
  • IRSC Practical Paper Award - "A Synthesis of MASH-Tested, 31-In. Tall, Non-Proprietary, W-Beam Guardrail System", 2017
  • IRSC Best New Innovation Award - "Development of a MASH TL-2 Crashworthy Pedestrian Railing System", 2017
  • Best Paper Award - "Standard Midwest Guardrail System Placed at 1V:2H Slope Break Point or with Omitted Post", 2017
  • Best Paper Award - "MASH TL-4 Design and Evaluation of a Restorable Energy-Absorbing Concrete Barrier", 2016
  • Best Paper Award - "Safety Investigation and Guidance for Retrofitting Existing Approach Guardrail Transitions", 2014
  • Best Paper Award - "Development and Implementation of the Simplified MGS Stiffness Transition", 2012
  • Best Paper Award - "Development of a Low-Cost, Energy-Absorbing, Bridge Rail", 2011
  • Best Paper Award - "Midwest Guardrail System Adjacent to a 2:1 Slope", 2008
  • Best Paper Award - "Midwest Guardrail System for Long Span Culvert Applications", 2007
  • Better Roads Magazine Top Rollout Award - "MGS Barrier System", 2006
  • Best Paper Award - "Midwest Guardrail System for Standard and Special Applications", 2004
  • Inaugural Pioneering and Innovation Award, 2004
  • Pocono Raceway Bill France, Sr., Award of Excellence, 2004
  • Herb Porter Indianapolis Memorial Motor Speedway Award, 2004
  • NASCAR Bill France, Jr., Award of Excellence, 2003
  • R&D Top 100 Award, 2003
  • SEMA Motorsports Engineering Award, 2002
  • Best of What's New Award for Top 100 Technical Innovations, 2002
  • 36th Annual Louis Schwitzer Award, 2002
  • Best Paper Award - "Compliance Testing of a Bullnose Median Barrier System", 2002
  • Federal Highway Administration Safety Award, 1996
  • Best Paper Award - "Performance Level 1 Bridge Railings for Timber Decks", 1993

Selected Publications

Analysis of Existing Work Zone Sign Supports using MASH Safety Performance Criteria published in, 2011

Development of a Low-Cost, Energy-Absorbing Bridge Rail published in Transportation Research Record, 2011

Design and Testing of Two Bridge Railings for Transverse Nail-Laminated Timber Deck Bridges published in Transportation Research Record, 2011 

Non-Blocked, Midwest Guardrail System for Gabion Wall Applications published in Transportation Research Record, 2011 

Evaluating the Cost-Effectiveness of Roadside Culvert Treatments published in Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE, 2011 

Head Ejection during Barrier Impacts published in Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE, 2011 

Analysis of Existing Work-Zone Devices with MASH Safety Performance Criteria published in ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering, 2010 

Development and Evaluation of the Midwest Guardrail System (MGS) Placed Adjacent to a 2:1 Fill Slope published in Transportation Research Report, 2010 

Dynamic Evaluation of a Pinned Anchoring System for New York State's Temporary Concrete Barriers - Phase II published in New York State Department of Transportation Research Report, 2010 

New Test Level 2 Rough Stone Masonry Guardwall published in Transportation Research Record 2195, 2010 

Performance Evaluation of Type II and Type IIA Box Beam End Terminals - Volume II: Appendices published in New York State Department of Transportation Research Report, 2010 

Performance Evaluation of Type II and Type IIA Box Beam End Terminals - Volume I: Research Results and Discussion published in New York State Department of Transportation Research Report, 2010 

Termination and Transition of Temporary Concrete Barriers published in Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Mtg, 2010 

Safety Investigation and Guidance for Work-Zone Devices in Freight Transportation Systems Subjected to Passenger Car and Truck Impacts with New Crash Standards published in MATC Final Report, 2010 

New Test Level 2 Rough Stone Masonry Guardwall published in Transportation Research Record, 2010 

Inertial Effects During Impact Testing published in Transportation Research Record 2120, 2009