The devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area exemplify the dangers of wind-driven fires in inhabited areas. WPI’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering is leading research designed to understand how fires spread with the goal of contributing to measures that can better protect communities and firefighters. WPI’s research, which involves faculty and ongoing experiments conducted by students in a state-of-the-art wind tunnel on campus, was featured by several media outlets. NBC Boston's report was re-aired on more than a dozen television news stations in cities around the U.S. including Washington, DC, Minneapolis, Dallas, Albuquerque, Spokane, Yakima, WA, Fresno, CA, Albany, NY, Topeka, KS, Greenville, SC, Abilene, TX, and Elmira, NY.

John McNeill, the Bernard M. Gordon Dean of the School of Engineering, and Oli Qirko, the North American president of Cambridge Consultants, Inc. and member of the advisory board for the School of Engineering, authored this op-ed regarding ways employers in STEM industries can foster inclusion and build the demand for women scientists and engineers. The piece also explores how project work, like WPI's educational model, serves as a successful example of best practices. The piece was published in PE Magazine, the flagship publication of the National Society of Professional Engineers.