The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/114745
Advancing WPI ment. There, researchers will study and document the amount and composition of gases, particulate sizes, and other characteristics of Ƃre. "We'll know everything about the Ƃre," Notarianni said. The Ƃre protection lab is one of just a few of its size in the country and the only one at an academic institution. It will help keep WPI in the forefront of Ƃre protection education and research, which has become increasingly critical to protect people and property as the world's population grows. Corporate support has played a vital role in the development of the new facility, with companies contributing about $1.65 million. Donors include Rolf Jensen & Associates, Honeywell Life Safety, Kidde, Siemens Industry, AON Fire Protection Engineering Corp., and, most recently, Underwriters Laboratories Inc. and the Richard H. Lufkin Memorial Fund. UL has pledged $750,000 for the performance laboratory and research projects, while the Lufkin Fund has provided $250,000 for instrumentation in the performance lab. "The ultimate beneƂciaries of this investment will be individuals and communities worldwide who are spared the disastrous effects of Ƃre, as a result of new knowledge created by our faculty and students," Notarianni said. On a tour of the new facilities while they were under construction, August W. Schaefer, senior vice president and public safety ofƂcer for UL, was impressed. "The layout and design is outstanding for a university," he said. "Clearly a lot of foresight has gone into this building." Besides serving as the site of the new lab, 50 Prescott Street will house the entire Fire Protection Engineering Department, providing ofƂces, classroom space, and collaborative working areas for faculty, students, industry representatives, and others. The cost of the lab and other department space for FPE at 50 Prescott Street is about $4.5 million. The 50 Prescott Street building is the second at Gateway Park, an ambitious WPI academic, research, and business development initiative that includes a Ƃve-story parking garage and plans for two more buildings. The second facility, not far from the main campus, will also house the university's Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center and the graduate division of WPI's School of Business. It wasn't until the 1970s that principles of science and engineering were applied to ƂreƂghting and Ƃre prevention, and WPI has been out front in that effort. In 1979 the university established a graduate program in Ƃre protection engineering, the Ƃrst and one of just two in the country, and WPI offers the only PhD in the Ƃeld. "The department embraces WPI's philosophy of applying learning and technology to real-world problems," Notarianni wrote in Shaping Our World: Engineering Education for the 21st Century, a 2012 book about WPI and its mission. She noted that the Fire Protection Engineering Department's diversity is one of its great strengths, drawing from a number of engineering Ƃelds as well as from physics, math, chemistry, architecture, and other areas. "We are a melting pot of academic disciplines with real-world applications," Notarianni wrote. Indeed, she holds degrees in chemical, Ƃre protection, and mechanical engineering. FPE faculty and programs are internationally recognized for research and developing groundbreaking approaches to protecting people and property from Ƃre. Work under way at WPI will help engineer safer buildings, ships, and trains, as well as better exit and sprinkler systems, and will contribute to more effective building regulations. WPI researchers are also working toward a better understanding of the effects of Ƃre and water on building materials; developing tools and land management techniques for Ƃghting wildƂres; preventing hazardous dust explosions; and protecting ƂreƂghters by developing ways to track them in buildings, monitor their vital signs, and warn them of impending deadly ƃashovers. "Worcester Polytechnic Institute has been a great contributor to the Ƃre protection industry and Honeywell certainly wants to help further this mission," said president Mark Levy when his company's participation was announced. There's a high demand for WPI's Ƃre protection engineers in business, industry, and government, according to Notarianni, and Rolf Jensen & Associates, which provided the founding gift for the new lab, is proof of that. With 21 ofƂces, including four overseas, the company uses Ƃre protection engineers to provide analysis and design buildings around the world. Out of 250 employees, 50 are from WPI, according to Mickey Reiss, president and CEO. He said that because his company hires WPI graduates, it's well worth investing in a facility like the Ƃre laboratory that enhances their education. "It makes for a much more rounded student," he said. Combined with what's learned in class, "they have both theory and practice." The fire protection lab is one of just a few of its size in the country and the only one at an academic institution. It will help keep WPI in the forefront of fire protection education and research, which has become increasingly critical to protect people and property as the world's population grows. Winter 2013 71