Program Overview

PhD in Fire Protection Engineering Program

The PhD in Fire Protection Engineering program at WPI is a renowned graduate program that aims to design a safer world. As the first university to offer a PhD in Fire Protection Engineering, WPI is recognized as a world leader in fire dynamics and computational modeling.

Program Overview

The program is interdisciplinary in nature, combining engineering disciplines, mathematics, computer science, and psychology to protect the increasingly crowded world from the risk of fire. PhD students will have the opportunity to explore all facets of fire protection engineering through a large selection of courses and focused research undertaken in collaboration with a faculty advisor.

Curriculum

The curriculum focuses on topics such as:

• Advanced fire suppression
• Building fire safety
• Detection, alarm, and smoke control
• Explosion protection
• Failure analysis
• Fire dynamics

Research

Groundbreaking research is a cornerstone of WPI's Fire Protection Engineering Department. Faculty and student researchers are helping shape the discipline and create new areas of knowledge. Research areas include:

• Assessing fire hazards of green buildings
• Streamlining procedural standards for firefighters
• Understanding how wildfires spread

Research Facilities

The program offers state-of-the-art facilities, including:

• Performance Engineering Laboratory with unique full-scale capabilities
• Combustion Laboratory
• Fire Fundamentals Laboratory

Faculty Profiles

The faculty members are experts in their fields, with research interests including:

• Industrial fire and explosion problems
• Building performance applications of fire dynamics
• Fire safety aspects of human behavior, business, management, and public policy

Faculty Members

• Ali Rangwala, Professor, Fire Protection Engineering
• Nicholas Dembsey, Professor, Fire Protection Engineering
• Kathy Notarianni, Associate Professor, Fire Protection Engineering
• Milosh Puchovsky, Professor of Practice & Associate Department Head, Fire Protection Engineering

Career Opportunities

FPE graduates enter a lucrative career field, with local, national, and international employers recruiting WPI graduate students to meet the rising global demand.

Additional Programs

WPI also offers:

• Master's in Fire Protection Engineering
• Online master's in Fire Protection Engineering
• Graduate certificates in fire dynamics and computational modeling