Career Opportunities
There are many career paths available to engineering graduates. An engineering education is an excellent foundation for jobs in research, sales, management and a number of other fields. But many young people are not aware that graduates in most engineering disciplines have the skills to pursue an important and lucrative career in fire protection engineering (FPE).
Fire protection engineers are men and women who use their unique skills to solve problems in hotels, hospitals, industrial complexes, commercial aircraft, submarines, spacecraft, and a host of other environments. It only takes one disaster- like the attackes on and collapse of the WTC towers where more than 3000 people died, the Station nightclub fire where 100 people perished, or the Sandoz industrial fire that devastated 500 miles of the Rhine River- to remind us of the catastrophes that can result from fire and explosion accidents.
Fire protection engineering is one of the most important emerging occupations of the decade. In fact, OMNI has listed the field at the top of the list of "Careers on the Rise."
Job Functions
Fire protection engineers combine their engineering and management skills to perform a broad range of jobs. Some work as fire protection designers, creating systems that automatically detect and suppress fires and designing fire alarm, smoke control, emergency lighting, communication and exit systems. These engineers also perform firesafety evaluations of building and industrial complexes to determine not only the risk of fire and explosion, but how to best prevent them.
Some fire protection engineers perform research on the behavior and control of fire. Many are involved in process risk assessment and management across a wide range of industrial applications. Still others investigate fires or explosions, preparing technical reports or providing expert courtroom testimony on the facts of the incident.
EMPLOYERS
Challenging job opportunities are available in just about every type of business, industry and government operation. By its very nature, fire protection engineering provides a broad variety of jobs to suit most any individual interest. Fire protection engineers work in the nerve centers of organizations as diverse as Boeing, Burger King, J.C. Penney, Polaroid, Texaco and the Smithsonian Institute.
Large corporations like Alcoa, General Motors, IBM, Kodak, Mobil, Starwood Hotels, Union Carbide and 3M employ fire protection engineers to oversee the design and operation of complex manufacturing facilities and multinational business networks. Insurance companies hire them to survey the major facilities they insure and to perform research, testing and analysis.
Fire protection engineers also can be found at all levels of government. They work in federal agencies such as NASA, the Veterans Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services; in all branches of the armed services; and in state and local governments, where fire protection engineers help develop and enforce building and fire prevention codes. And many fire departments hire fire protection engineers to perform technical job functions.
There are also consulting firms throughout the United States and Canada that specialize in fire protection engineering. They provide high-quality technical advice to architects, building owners and managers, attorneys and many others. Interesting jobs are available as well at trade associations, testing laboratories, research facilities, architectural firms and colleges and universities.
The Job Market
Overall, the demand for highly trained fire protection engineers far surpasses the number of such professionals earn their degrees each year. Ample good paying job opportunities are available. Data published by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers indicates that median earnings for FPE's are generally above those for engineers in general.
Educational Background
At first glance, students in the traditional engineering fields might conclude that a career in fire protection is outside their disciplines. But that is often a mistaken impression.
Professionals in fire protection engineering come from all undergraduate degree majors, including civil, chemical, mechanical and electrical engineering. They build on their competences in these specific disciplines to solve firesafety problems. A recent survey by Worcester Polytechnic Institute showed that men and women entering fire protection careers earned their undergraduate degrees in:
| Chemical Engineering | 14% |
| Civil Engineering | 19% |
| Electrical Engineering | 7% |
| Fire Protection Engineering | 7% |
| Mechanical Engineering | 36% |
| Other | 17% |
Graduate Internship Program
Among the innovative opportunities for financing master's degree studies at WPI is the Graduate Internship Program (GIP). Although there are different types of GIP's the most popular involves taking a regular program of fire protection engineering courses in the fall semester, followed by a full year of clinical experience in professional practice. Finally, the second semester of fire protection engineering courses and the thesis or project complete the program.
The GIP offers substantial benefits. The internship usually allows one's graduate education to be financed at approximately the same level as that of research assistants at WPI. That is, the salary is often sufficient to cover tuition, fees and living expenses. In addition, the full year of professional experience enables a more informed decision to be made with regard to the particular industry and the geographical location of permanent employment. In addition, the completed master's degree plus one full year of experience will usually count tor two years toward professional engineer registration.
A Unique Career
FPE graduates will find themselves at the forefront of an exciting and rapidly growing profession, one that many in the field say is undergoing a renaissance. With the scientific base for the field comming of age, fire protection engineering has been formally recognized by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), which prepares professional registration examinations for engineers throughout U.S. Today, The Society of Fire Protection Engineers has a membership of over 4,000, with 47 local chapters in North America, Europe and Australia.
As the growth of this professional society reflects, fire protection engineering is assuming a role of increasing importance. More and more, business, industry, government, and academics are recognizing the need for improved fire protection and firesafety systems development. And they are recognizing,as well, the ability of trained fire protection engineers to do those jobs in a sophisticated and professional manner.
Last but not least, the rewards of this unique engineering career path are many. The FPE master's degree can add up to $10,000/year to starting salaries; Ph.D. salaries are even higher. The work is challenging and pioneering in nature, and provides the opportunity to use engineering concepts to make a real difference in the quality of life for large numbers of people.
Fire protection engineering offers the opportunity to join an exclusive group of professionals and achieve positions of leadership in a dynamically changing field.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: January 23, 2008 09:21:07