Home to the first master’s program and one of only three fire protection engineering graduate programs in the United States, WPI’s Fire Protection Engineering Department has driven significant cutting-edge research, developed real-world solutions through its state-of-the-art fire laboratories, and graduated highly trained, influential, in-demand experts.

Our internationally renowned faculty members are recognized for cutting-edge research and teaching focused on making the world safer by tackling challenging questions about fire behavior and our response to it. Students work alongside them in state-of-the-art facilities to gain and create knowledge that informs and shapes regulatory policy, building design, manufacturing processes, first responder operations, and product performance standards.

Contact

Location: 
50 Prescott Street (Gateway Park II)
Phone: 
508-831-5593
Fax: 
508-831-5862
fpe@wpi.edu

Degrees & Certificates

Area of Study Bachelor Minor Certificate Master PhD
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Where the wind blows wildfires can go

Related video: WPI fire protection engineers are using a newly designed wind tunnel to better understand wildfires.

WPI Professor Talks to Newsweek

In light of the devastating California wildfires that have killed 17 people, Newsweek interviewed fire protection engineering professor Albert Simeoni, asking him if these types of fires always must be devastating to human life and property. Simeoni, who studies wildfires and is a former firefighter, said damage can be minimized through science and consideration of fire behavior. 

Read the Story in Newsweek about WPI Professor Talks to Newsweek
WPI burn lab

Performance Engineering Laboratory at Gateway Park

FPE Faculty and student researchers have access to facilities that are unmatched in academia—including the Performance Engineering Laboratory at Gateway Park, where researchers can conduct large-scale burns up to a two-story building.

View More about Facilities about Performance Engineering Laboratory at Gateway Park

Professors

Kathy Ann Notarianni

Kathy A. Notarianni

Associate Professor
, Fire Protection Engineering

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.

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Nicholas A. Dembsey

Nicholas A. Dembsey

Professor
, Fire Protection Engineering

My research focuses on the building performance applications of fire dynamics, fire characteristics of materials and fire models.  I am working with students 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.

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Ali S. Rangwala

Ali S. Rangwala

Professor
, Fire Protection Engineering

Current fire-safety standards do not fully account for the wide range of combustibility of materials found in industrial settings. Nor do the standards provide for accurate measurement of hazardous dust accumulation within the environment. My research addresses combustion, industrial fire protection, and explosion protection. Among the potentially life-saving projects I’m working on is the development of measurement and ~sensing devices designed to identify the presence, velocity, and flow direction of smoke.

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Milosh T. Puchovsky

Milosh T Puchovsky

Professor of Practice & Associate Department Head
, Fire Protection Engineering

Practicing fire protection engineers recognize and assess a broad range of fire and life safety risks and, possess the technical knowledge and skills needed to develop effective solutions. Through my academic endeavors and professional practice, I bring practical perspectives to our students' educational experience. My teaching incorporates situations that practicing fire protection engineers face on a daily basis facilitating our students' functional understanding of a fire's physical behavior, its impact, and the role of reacting systems, regulations and product standards.

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A High-Demand Career Path

The demand for fire protection engineers continues to grow, providing nearly unlimited career opportunities for WPI FPE graduates. Our alumni are highly sought after and can be found working as consultants, at fire protection equipment manufacturers, and in government, the insurance industry, research laboratories, and more. Their jobs have taken them from the South Pole to Alaskan pipelines, Disney World, and beyond.

Avoiding Costly Losses Due to Fire

This white paper, written by FPE professor of practice Milosh Puchovsky, introduces the profession of fire protection engineering and explores the many roles fire protection engineers play in helping organizations mitigate fire and explosion threats.

Download the white paper about Avoiding Costly Losses Due to Fire

Fire Safety for Lithium Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems (ESS)

ESS facilities pose unique challenges as they can result in fast developing fires of significant heat release. Through a radiation heat transfer analysis, separation distances are examined. The results can inform the development of standardized spacing practices based on associated energy capacity and container size.

Download the report about Fire Safety for Lithium Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems (ESS)

Announcements

SEE MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
WPI on List of 2021's Best Online Master's in Engineering Programs
April 20, 2021
Corporate & Professional Education
Call for Applications: Kalenian Award 2021
April 05, 2021
Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Media Coverage

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Spectrum News 1
WPI Fire Protection Engineering Professor Using Grant to Research Wildfire Burn Pattern Indicators

Professor Albert Simeoni, head of the Department of Fire Protection Engineering, was interviewed about his being awarded $519,893 from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate the reliability of burn pattern indicators used by investigators to determine the starting point of wildfires.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Repeated N.W.T. wildfires can hit boreal forests hard

The Canadian Broadcast Corporation quoted Professor Albert Simeoni, fire protection engineering, in this article. He said Canadian findings in a new paper from Natural Resources Canada scientists quantify and add direct evidence to what he and others have seen in other places, including in eucalyptus forests in Australia . “We have observed that repeated heat insults to vegetation and the soil was damaging and this corroborates this observation," Simeoni told the CBC.

News

SEE MORE NEWS
Wildfire simulation at WPI
Where Did That Wildfire Start? WPI Researcher Awarded Grant to Assess Reliability of Burn Patterns as Forensic Tool
March 22, 2021
Portraits of six faculty members honored for achievements.
2020 Annual Faculty Awards Honored Scholars for Teaching, Advising, Research Excellence
February 10, 2021
Graduate Admissions at: https://www.wpi.edu/admissions/graduate