From the effects of cultural bias on building evacuation, to the analysis of 911 response times in the United States, to the dynamics of forest fires and dust explosions, a wide range of research projects conducted by students in Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) fire protection engineering program were presented recently at the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) annual conference.
Founded in 1896, the NFPA is the leading global organization focused on reducing the loss of life and property from fire. This year’s conference marked the first time student projects were solicited and presented for the NFPA membership to review at a dedicated research-section event. A total of 16 posters were accepted by the NFPA, 10 of which were from WPI students.
- “The Effects of Cultural and Social Differences between the West and Saudi Arabia on Emergency Evacuation,” by Majed Almejmaj
- “‘Ready-to-Use’ Building Layouts and Combustible Packages for 3-D Fire Simulations,” by Alberto Alvarez
- “Effect of Geometry of Combustible Dust Deposit on Its Hot Surface Ignition,” by K. A. Joshi
- “Increasing Building Fire Safety by Bridging the Gap Between Architects and Fire Safety Engineers,” by Haejun Park
- “Fire Extinguishers in Academic Settings,” by Raymond Ranellone
- “Review of Theoretical Expressions for Laminar Burning Velocity of Particle-Air Flames,” by Scott R. Rockwell
- “Obtaining High-Quality Experimental Data in Real-Scale Fire Tests,” by Tanya Soffen
- “Piloted Ignition Regimes of Wildland Fuel Beds,” by J.C Thomas
- “Fire and EMS Mobilization: From 9-1-1 to Help on the Way,” by Robert Upson
- “Study of Interaction of Entrained Coal-dust Particles in Lean Methane – Air Premixed Flames,” by Yanxuan Xie
“I think this was an outstanding group of posters,” said Brian Meacham, associate professor of fire protection engineering at WPI, who is a member of the NFPA’s research section executive committee, but recused himself from the poster selection process. “This work was done by students from leading fire protection engineering programs around the world, and I think the concentration of WPI posters shows the depth and the quality of the research being done by our students.”
“I was very pleased with the turnout for the poster session,” said Kathy Ann Notarianni, professor and head of WPI’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering. “The room was full, and people were engaging with the students, asking them questions and having good discussions about the next steps of their research. The impact was very strong.”
For students with an undergraduate foundation in traditional engineering fields, WPI’s fire protection engineering courses lay the groundwork for a firm understanding of the dynamics of fire and its causes and prevention, and how to protect structures, vehicles, clothing, and people.
To accommodate the growth of the program, and to expand areas of research, a new fire science research and education center with a next-generation burn laboratory is now under construction at WPI’s Gateway Park.