Catholic teen uses engineering to protect football players’ brains

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

For the past three years, recent high school graduate Rachel Pizzolato, 18, of Metairie has been perfecting a science project that might eventually prevent football players from experiencing head trauma.


In May, at the 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair  (ISEF), the world’s largest international high school science competition, she earned $1,000 for third place for her project, “Incorporating an Articulating Facemask Into a Multi-Directional Self-Centering Linear Damping Football Helmet System.”

The competition featured 1,750 young scientists from 49 states and 63 countries and awarded $8 million to finalists whose projects were judged on creativity, innovation and level of scientific inquiry.

She kept trying
Pizzolato had practical experience in science fairs by competing – three times – in the Broadcom Master’s middle school STEM competition in Washington, D.C., with a project on Vertical Access Wind Turbines. When she advanced to the high school ISEF – with the goal of perfecting an idea for a safer NFL helmet – she was improving on an idea that her brother Robbie Pizzolato, now 20, started in high school as a football player. He’s now studying sports medicine and playing football as a lineman on scholarship at Nicholls University.

While Robbie’s concentration was the helmet’s internal padding, Rachel focused on protecting the forehead area since, for linemen, that’s the first area of impact. The first year, the helmet was outfitted with shock absorbers, for general protection of any player. The second year, she used compression to protect linemen specifically.

Knowing other positions required helmet alterations for better protection, Pizzolato incorporated compression, extension and articulation features, creating a design called IMPULSE for the 2022 project submission.

“What IMPULSE does is take that lick (impact) that the player receives,” she said. “(The helmet) has compression (when a face mask is pushed inward), extension (when the face mask is grabbed and it has articulation. It basically is a universal helmet for any player on the field.”

She spent the summer between her junior and senior year researching and then two to three months manufacturing the linear damper shell casings using 3-D printing technology. The casings surround a gas-filled linear damper, where the shock-absorbing technology takes place.

Pizzolato said when a player is hit wearing most universal NFL helmets, the brain, on impact, hits the front and back of head, and then every place in the skull.

“With this articulation technology, the facemask extends and articulates so the brain doesn’t slosh around … the face mask retracts when impact is done, so the brain doesn’t feel anything.”

She was encouraged by those who approached her booth at the convention. A pilot donned the helmet and tested it by crashing his head against a wall. He said, “It works. … I am so impressed with this that I had to try it.”


Pizzolato has applied for a patent for her technology, and her invention was selected to participate in the NFL Football Challenge.

“What the NFL is doing is providing funding to make a finished project that will be tested on the field. If it works, they want to buy your patent, they want to buy your product, collaborate or do something with you. ... I am an 18-year-old girl, and this is going to be a big opportunity for me, because, if it works, I am gonna have a real NFL product.”

She’s conducting the 3-D shell printing herself and incorporating it into the helmet so it’s not noticeable.

“It looks like a regular NFL helmet with the technology. … You’re not going to see it until you put it on,” she said.
Will not be categorized

Pizzolato, who is 6”1’ tall and Catholic, said no one is going to pigeonhole her into one career. Her varied interests include modeling, acting, being a social media influencer (with 1.6 million views on TikTok where she shares her high school bullying experience for being tall and does challenges that bust the myth that tall people cannot do certain things such as flips while wearing high heels). She was also an investigative host at age 14 in 10 episodes of Myth Busters Jr. in 2019-20.

“That’s not how Rachel works; we do not pick,” said the rising college student who plans to study online with LSU, giving her time pursuing other careers, then complete an engineering degree on campus. “We go for every passion we have to the fullest and see which one works out. … I want to do everything and prove people wrong.”

See her project at: https://projectboard.world/isef/finalist-booth/enbm031---articulating-linear-damping-football-helmet-system