PhD Students

Fernando Ebensperger is a Chilean PhD student in Fire Protection Engineering at WPI, guided by Dr. Albert Simeoni. With a background in Industrial Engineering, Fernando developed an interest in fire protection engineering. His research focuses on firebrand generation for vegetal fuels using experimental techniques and computational modeling, with implications on the actual models.

I have a master’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). My master thesis focused on studying the ignition mechanism of dead Pinus Palustris needles using a cone calorimeter.Motivated by my Master’s research, I am interested and curious to pursue my Ph.D. in the area of wildland fire. I am currently a Ph.D. student at WPI, supervised by Professor Simeoni. My current research aims on investigating the influence of vegetation distribution and flow on the fire behavior and plume development in prescribed burns through a multiscale study.

I am Fire Protection Engineering PhD student, advised by James Urban. My research is on studying toxic gas species that exist in compartment fires post flashover.

My father is also a WPI Fire Protection Engineering alumni and received his PhD in 2003. He was a main driving force in my pursuit for a PhD in the same field. My work focuses on emissions sampling in outdoor scenarios, emphasizing the development of a new technique for calorimetry of large-scale fires.

I am a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). I have a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from VTU Bangalore, India, and a master's degree in Aeronautical Mechanics and Energetics with a major in Propulsion and Energetics from ISAE-ENSMA Poitiers, France. Currently, I am working on a WPI-SERDP project under Professor Albert Simeoni. My research focuses on study of fire and plume dynamics for static pool fires and their interaction with vegetation. Also, understanding the influence of vegetation ...

Pablo is a Ph.D student in fire protection engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) since January 2023 under the supervision of Professor James Urban. He worked as collaborator in the Energy conversion and combustion group (EC2G) from 2019. Additionally, in 2017 he began teaching applied mathematics courses at the faculty of exact sciences of the Universidad Andrés Bello. Pablo has carried out research on the combustion and radiative heat transfer of non-premixed laminar flames generated by wildland fuels and pool fires. His Ph.D work focuses on flame spread response to non-steady ...

Abhinandan is a Ph.D. student under Prof. Albert Simeoni. Originally from India, he moved to the US for his Ph.D. in January 2021. He holds a master's in Aerospace Engineering and a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering, which he pursued back in India. His current research focuses on fire spread behavior across pine needles and other vegetative fuels. His focus is on quantifying the dynamic flame characteristics and their effect on the unsteady nature of fire spread under wind-aided conditions. He has participated in various experiments ranging from small lab-scale studies to large field-scale ...

My research of interest is mostly focused on fundamental study of firebrand/ember spotting process(theoretical and numerical) as well as measurement of burning characteristics of wildland/structure fuels in WUI fires advised by Prof. J Urban.

Jon Zimak Ph.D student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) studying inert gas suppression systems and the standards that approve these systems for use. His research is under the direction of Professors Albert Simeoni and Milosh Puchovsky and sponsored by the company Kidde. Jon’s Master’s thesis investigated the extinguishing dynamics of a wood crib subjected to an inert gas discharge at two scales. This work resulted in a Fire Safety Journal publication, a best student presenter award at the International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, and several presentations for the NFPA and ...