| Director The Director of the Fire Safety Institute is John M. Watts, Jr. "Jack" is a graduate fire protection engineer from the University of Maryland and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of Massachusetts.
In addition to several years in the fire insurance industry, he has been employed as a fire fighter, fire researcher, and fire investigator. He was formerly Assistant Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland and spent a sabbatical year teaching and conducting research in the Department of Fire Safety Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Fire Technology, the quarterly journal of fire safety science and engineering sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
Dr. Watts is a member of NFPA and charter member of NFPA’s Research Section. He currently serves on the following NFPA Technical Committees:
- Alternative Approaches to Life Safety,
- Fire Risk Assessment Methods, and
- Protection of Cultural Resources.
He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Fire Safety Engineers (SFPE) and participates in numerous SFPE activities; - Committee on Engineering Education
- Section Editor of the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering.
- Task Group on Fire Risk Assessment
- Task Group on Performance-Based Analysis and Design
- Editorial Board, Journal of Fire Protection Engineering
He has been appointed to the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NAFSM) Science Advisory Committee and is also a member of several other organizations: - American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committees E5 on Fire Standards and E6 on Building Construction.
- Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI).
- International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS),
- Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)
| |
Fire Safety Institute