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.
