Serial Award Winner Ricardo Jacome as SAE Doctoral Research Fellow

NTC's Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) graduate student Ricardo Jacome has been selected as a SAE Doctoral Research Fellow, a monetary award to aid in the doctoral studies in engineering.

The scholarship, given by the Society of Automotive Engineers, is open to a wide pool of applicants, as anyone pursuing a degree in engineering at a U.S. university and planning to pursue a career in teaching engineering is eligible. Those who are selected have demonstrated strong academic achievement and leadership ability. Ricardo is currently pursuing a PhD in mechanical and materials engineering at UNL while conducting research on autonomous vehicles.

After earning his Bachelors of Science degree in 2017 at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, he has continued his education and research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has had a significant role in many projects with MwRSF in the past three and a half years, including leading a crashworthiness analysis of a full-scale crash test data and working on a virtual lane-keeping system in the “Smart Barrier Systems” project.

He has been an advocate for MwRSF and an active recruiter for the transportation engineering field. When asked why becoming an educator in engineering is important to him, Ricardo stated “I believe I can help others to aspire success in their lives and specially in the transportation field!”

Ricardo is the most awarded graduate student at NTC. This year, he has also received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Research Fellowship—awarded by the US Department of Transportation—for the third time, the Heinz C Pretcher scholarship for automotive excellence, and the UNL Recruitment fellowship. MATC awarded Ricardo with the Region VII UTC Student of the Year award in 2018, recognizing his achievements working on MwRSF projects.

The SAE Fellowship give Ricardo a sense of value and recognition to the research has been doing, and “motivates [him] to move forward with challenging [himself] in the engineer career.” Earning this achievement will also work to open doors and collaborations in the future.