UCLA joins program using helmet sensors that monitor head trauma and build data for concussion problem

View slideshow Dr. Christopher Giza, left, and research coordinator Max Zeiger, right, demonstrate the new football helmet sensors as philanthropist Steve Tisch, center, looks on. ‘It can function as another set of eyes for an athletic trainer,' said Giza, the director of UCLA's Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program, which is involved in the project.Twelve years ago, Stefan Duma, a Virginia Tech engineering professor, left a U.S. military conference in Puerto Rico with an idea to better understand and treat the head injuries sustained by college football players.

On that spring day in 2003, Duma had listened to a presentation on the use of electronic impact sensors from Rick Greenwald, the founder…