Fire Protection Engineering GRTP

火灾每年给美国经济造成1280亿美元的损失。近几十年来，美国在人均火灾损失方面领先所有工业化国家。在过去的30年里，对火灾行为和消防系统性能的科学理解取得了巨大的进步。事实上，一门消防工程学科正在兴起，以处理这一具有国家重要性的问题。在20世纪70年代，伍斯特理工学院认识到火灾科学知识的不断增长，以及它为更大的社会利益所提供的巨大潜力。1979年，学校首次开设消防工程专业硕士学位课程，推动了国家消防工程学科的发展，培养了更多运用新技术解决复杂火灾问题的人才。人们很快认识到，迫切需要博士专业人员来编写未来的教科书，进行前沿研究，在世界各地的工业和政府实验室教书和工作。因此，1991年WPI开设了第一个消防工程博士学位课程。以其在硕士阶段的成功记录为基础。这项研究生研究培训计划将建立第一批消防工程博士学者。五名候选人将在全国范围内进行密集的招聘活动，重点是校园工程学会组织和其他与女性、少数民族和残疾学生联系在一起的专业团体。

ABSTRACT Fires cost the American economy on the order of $128 billion per year. In recent decades, the United States has led all industrialized nations in per capita fire losses. Over the past 30 years, great advancements have been made in the scientific understanding of fire behavior and the performance of fire protection systems. Indeed, a fire protection engineering discipline is emerging to deal with this problem of national importance. In the 1970's, Worcester Polytechnic Institute recognized the growing body of knowledge in fire science and the enormous potential it had to offer for the greater social good. In 1979, it implemented the firs-of-its-kind master's degree program in fire protection engineering to help the nation move forward in the development of this discipline and to produce more human resources to apply new technologies to the solution of complex fire problems. It was soon recognized that doctoral professionals were sorely needed to write the textbooks of the future, perform leading edge research, to teach and to work in industrial and government laboratories, worldwide. Accordingly, in 1991 WPI launched the first-of-its-kind doctoral degree program in fire protection engineering...building on its successful track record at the master's level. This Graduate Research Traineeship proposal will establish the first critical mass of Ph.D. fire protection engineering scholars. Five candidates will be selected as a result of an intensive nationwide recruitment campaign focusing on campus engineering society organizations and other specialty groups networked to women, minorities and students with disabilities.