WPI’s Center for Global Public Safety (CGPS) welcomed over two dozen industry leaders in the fields of Fire Protection, Food Safety, Water Security and First Responder Technologies for an Industry Stakeholder’s Forum at Higgins House on Monday, April 30th.
The full day event was opened by President Laurie Leshin, who welcomed the crowd and shared the vision of the Center for Global Public Safety and its history with Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Co-Directors, Milosh Puchovsky and Jianyu Liang, outlined the Center’s interdisciplinary goals and objectives as well as a five year plan. Professor Hui Zhang, Co-Director for the Center for Public Safety Research at Tsinghua University, reviewed the work being done in China to improve public safety and create smarter cities.
Wole Soboyejo, Bernard M. Gordon Dean of Engineer and Professor of Engineering Leadership, introduced faculty researchers who each discussed their new innovative research projects that are being supported with seed grants through the Dean of Engineering Office. Each project team was represented by one member as follows:
Next Generation Batteries Yan Wang, Associate Professor, ME
Wildland Urban Interface Albert Simeoni, Professor & Dept Head, FPE
Concussion Detection Songbai Ji, Associate Professor, BME
Soft Robotics Cagdas Onal, Asst Professor, ME
Smart Fire Trucks Xinming Huang, Professor, ECE
Food Safety Pratap Rao, Asst Professor, ME
Flame Refluxing Albert Simeoni, Professor & Dept Head, FPE
Swarms of Robots Carlo Pinciroli, Asst Professor, CS
Safety Index Tricia Stapleton, Asst Professor, SSPS
Flint Water Project Natalie Farny, Asst Teaching Professor, Biology & Biotechnology
Attendees travelled from throughout the U.S. and even as far as China to participate in the event. Companies represented include Climate Energy, E-One, Ferrari Engineering, First Command Financial Services, FM Global, Forensic Laboratory Travelers, Globe Manufacturing, JENSEN HUGHES, Johnson Controls, Kidde-Fenwal, LION Group, NFPA, Underwriters Laboratories, U.S. Army Labs, Woodard & Curran, and Worcester Fire Department.
Guests included CGPS Founding Supporters, Mickey Reiss & George Toth; newly appoint President of Underwriters Laboratories, Terry Brady; Worcester Fire Chief, Mike Lavoie; and Co-Director of the Center for Public Safety Research in Beijing, China, Hui Zhang.
The highlight of the event was the break-out sessions and brain storming around six key focus topics: First Responders; Emergency Transportation; Emergency Response Systems; Fire Protection Engineering; Water Security; and Food Safety. Each group contributed ideas about the most pressing needs in each industry; ways to apply new emerging technologies; and the best way to apply the research talent at WPI and Tsinghua University.
The information gathered will be used to direct research initiatives as well as to plan the upcoming Center for Global Public Safety Symposium planned at WPI in September, 2018.
