Robert Jönsson takes office as president of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) for 2010. Jönsson currently is the chairman of the Department of Fire Safety Engineering and Systems Safety at Lund University in Sweden.
Jönsson, who will become the first SFPE president to reside outside North America, has served on the Society’s Board of Directors since 2002 and is an SFPE Fellow. SFPE Fellows represent a distinguished group of members who have attained significant stature and accomplishment in engineering.
“At Lund University Jönsson has made significant contributions to the profession of fire protection engineering by advancing the science and technology that makes people and property safe from fire,” said SFPE Engineering Program Manager Chris Jelenewicz. “He is widely recognized for making the program at Lund University one of the preeminent fire safety engineering schools in the world.”
In 1981 Jönsson became a faculty member at Lund and was promoted to Department Head in 1985. He was the driving force behind the planning and implementation of the fire protection engineering program and is still course manager for a number of courses. He was also responsible for starting an MSc program in Risk Management and Safety Engineering at Lund.
Jönsson holds an MSc in Civil and Structural Engineering from Lund University and a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley he studied structural engineering and mechanics under the supervision of Professor Brady Williamson. He previously served on the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning where he was responsible for the formulation of the Swedish Building Regulations.
More information about SFPE can be found at www.sfpe.org.
