Following his education, Uicker served two years in the US Army Metrology and Calibration Center at the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia, PA.

He received a certificate of commendation from the Army for his historically significant paper on "Dynamic Force Analysis of Spatial Linkages.

In this role, he became the pioneering researcher on transformation matrix methods of linkage analysis, and was the first to advise on their use in the dynamics of mechanical systems.

He advised numerous masters and doctoral students during his tenure at the UW and was twice awarded for distinguished teaching.

He founded their Computer Aided Engineering Center and served as director for its initial ten years of operation.

Using these facilities, Uicker and his students developed a number of geometric modeling and computer-aided design techniques for the simulation of solidification in metal castings, which made manufacturing more predictable and cost-effective.