Faculty & Staff

Professor Simeoni is an internationally recognized expert in fire and wildland fire and fire science, with over 120 journal papers, conference papers, and book chapters. He has more than 20 years of experience developing experimental, analytical, and numerical techniques to better understand fire dynamics and to predict fire and wildland fire behavior. Before joining WPI, he held academic leadership positions in fire research in the UK (University of Edinburgh) and in France (University of Corsica). He has also experience as a consultant in fire science in the U.S. and has spent over 10 years ...

My research focuses on the building performance applications of fire dynamics, fire characteristics of materials and fire models.  I am working in the following areas: closing the fire performance gap in buildings; fire safety of green buildings; development of new techniques and guidance documents for practicing engineers to measure fire properties of materials; the optimization of building assemblies for fire performance, ease of manufacturing and cost effectiveness.

Today, firefighters serve increasingly as first responders for emergency medical calls, civil emergencies, terrorist threats, and hazardous materials incidents, in addition to fire emergencies. The fire service needs tools and technologies that aid in carrying out their ever expanding mission without increasing costs. My research is focused on working with the fire service to achieve this important goal. I am conducting research on fire department mobilization times and exposure of fire fighters to toxic gases. I work with a team that developed and will commercialize a tool that will predict ...

Practicing fire protection engineers are trained to recognize and assess a broad range of complex fire and life safety issues. They are called upon to bring forth technical knowledge and the skills necessary to develop effective solutions. Through my academic and professional practice I bring practical perspectives to our students' educational experience. My teaching and research incorporates circumstances that practicing fire protection engineers face on a routine basis facilitating my student's functional understanding of fire behavior, and the role safety systems, regulations ...

 Professor Rangwala’s research interests include problems related to industrial fire and explosion problems. He has worked on topics such as deflagration of combustible dust clouds, ignition behavior of combustible dust layers, in-situ burning of oil, spread of an oil slick in channels, velocity measuring techniques in fire induced flows, and flame propagation and burning rate behavior of condensed fuel surfaces.He teaches courses on Explosion Dynamics, Explosion Protection, Industrial Fire Protection, Fire Dynamics, Combustion, and Heat and Mass Transfer.Visit Digital WPI to view student ...

My research focuses on the physical processes controlling whether or not flammable material ignites and then understanding how it burns. Much of this research has focused on small, hot objects such as firebrands (burning debris from an existing fire).