The Legacy Campaign
Funding the Future
A CASE FOR SUPPORT
Department of Fire Protection Engineering
A. James Clark School of Engineering
The University of Maryland College Park
SUMMARY
In the 1980’s fire protection engineering was selected by Omni Magazine as the top career
opportunity, well into the 21st century. That vision is still relevant three decades later, with the rapid
worldwide acceleration in the growth of science and technology opening up vast new opportunities
and demand for uniquely trained fire protection engineers remaining high. The education of the fire
protection professionals presents itself as a unique challenge.
The University of Maryland has been educating fire protection engineers for over 50 years.
Currently, the University's Department of Fire Protection Engineering has one of three graduate
programs in the United States and the only ABET-accredited program in undergraduate fire
protection engineering in the world
Today, the University's fire protection engineering graduates are active in many diverse
fields, including research and development, product development, design, test and evaluation,
engineering consulting, the fire service and government. Their influence is substantial in the
development and application of fire safety and engineering standards throughout the world.
The University of Maryland is a research institution with a strong reputation. Many of the
recent faculty hires in the department have had strong research portfolios in support of the research
mission of the university. However, as part of a land grant university, the department must also
maintain its connection to the practice of fire protection engineering, which is its legacy. Both of
these initiatives are viewed as critical in meeting society's current and future demands for highly
educated fire protection engineers. The alumni and friends of the department are embarking on a
campaign to endow a professorship described in this document to ensure that the department’s
curricula continue to include applications in fire protection engineering and to maintain strong
connections to the profession.
INTRODUCTION
Fire safety impacts virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Its influence is present in the
approval requirements for a wide variety of products, as well as in complex engineering designs for
large buildings or complex transportation systems, selection of alternative energy sources and
implementation of sustainability options. As a professional group, fire protection engineers provide
much of the technical leadership in the development and implementation of engineering codes and
standards for fire safety. Fire protection engineers are also highly engaged in advancing the field,
both in terms of improved products and computational tools. The University of Maryland has a
long history of providing the education background for fire protection engineers and more recently
has conducted research to advance the fire safety field.
EDUCATING THE CONTEMPORARY FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEER
The University of Maryland's Department of Fire Protection Engineering was established in
the College of Engineering on July 1, 1956. Initially, the curriculum was provided with one full time
faculty position, Dr. John L. Bryan, who was given the task of developing the fledgling program.
The first graduating class consisted of four students in 1962. Over the years, the program has
carefully evolved to provide a high quality engineering education that is responsive to the public
need, kept pace with advances in the field as well as conducted basic research to contribute to
advances in the field.
Today, the department is one of eight departments within the A. James Clark School of
Engineering. More than 200 students are enrolled in its undergraduate and graduate degree
programs. There are six full-time faculty and numerous adjunct faculty. Since its inception, more
than 1,000 students have received B.S. degrees and over 300 have received Master’s degrees from
the University of Maryland's Department of Fire Protection Engineering. About 20 PhD’s have
been awarded with one of the department faculty being the main research advisor. The annual
research budget in the department exceeds one million dollars. With its current status, the
department has clearly evolved from a modest program in 1956 to a mature, competitive engineering
department.
Today, the Department is the only ABET accredited program in undergraduate fire protection engineering in
the world, serving as a crucial resource to many world-wide industries that depend on the recognized
high quality of Maryland's education and research capabilities.
A VIEW TOWARD THE FUTURE
The Need
Leaders of the department and the Clark School realize that fire protection engineering
research and teaching require a diverse set of talents. The current fire protection engineering faculty
are experienced, highly regarded educators and researchers. The department laboratory facilities
were recently expanded and provide the capability to conduct high quality, fundamental research.
During the past ten years, the faculty hires have had strong research credentials, an important trait
for a tenure-track faculty member interested in a long career at the University. While these recent
hires have prospered in the research arena, their backgrounds in the pragmatic aspects of fire
protection engineering design are shallow.
Currently instruction in the undergraduate program is distributed among all full-time faculty
members, with assistance from adjunct (part-time) faculty in several of the courses which emphasize
applications, e.g. design of fire suppression and fire alarm/emergency communication systems.
Only one of the full-time faculty (Milke) is a fire protection engineer and he teaches several of the
applied classes. The following observation was made during the ABET site visit in fall 2011 relative
to the criterion that there be a sufficient number of faculty with the competencies to cover all of the
curricular areas of the program:
“Only one of the faculty members has an earned degree in fire protection engineering; this
faculty member is the only licensed professional engineer in the program and is on a two
year appointment, with an optional one year extension and is nearing retirement. The
program currently is in compliance with this criterion but there is the potential that future
compliance could be jeopardized in there is no one among the faculty of the program who
has fire protection engineering design experience.”
The recent addition of Dr. Michael Gollner to the faculty helps to address this issue, given
his short experience as a practicing fire protection engineer. However, being that he is relatively
junior person, he cannot yet be expected to carry the entire load of the department’s connection to
the practice of fire protection engineering.
The Campaign for Fire Protection Engineering
An ambitious campaign has been initiated by friends and alumni of the Department of Fire
Protection Engineering to raise support for a professorship to provide the applied content in the
undergraduate curriculum and maintain a connection to the profession. Individuals serving in this
role would have extensive experience in the fire protection industry and be principally expected to
teach and assist with technology transfer of the fundamental research. This permanent
professorship will enable future generations of fire protection engineering students to benefit from
practitioners in the field who would be named to the professorship. Based on the earned reputation
of the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland, this professor will
ensure the program's continued vitality, progress and service to the profession.
The campaign's objective is to obtain $2.5 million in contributions by December 2013 to
establish a second endowed professorship in Fire Protection Engineering at the university. This is
an important opportunity for the entire fire protection community. Individual support from alumni,
parents and friends combined with industrial and professional support is critical to our success. All
supporters will be contributing to the development, growth and enhancement of a center of
excellence for fire protection engineering education. Your support is clearly an investment in the
future that will ensure that the highest standards of the profession are maintained in future years.