October 21, 2010 — Dr. Marc Janssens, a senior engineer in the Fire Technology Department in the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), has been named a Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE).
Fellow is the highest level of SFPE membership. SFPE recognizes long-term professional members with at least 10 years of service who have made a significant impact in the field of fire protection engineering. Fellow nominees must have five peer nomination letters from SFPE Fellows or professional-level members. Janssens was honored for his leadership, research and innovation in fire protection engineering.
Janssens has been employed at SwRI since 1996 and provides expertise in the areas of fire research and testing, computer fire modeling, codes and standard development, fire hazard and risk assessment.
In July, Janssens received the 2010 Interflam Trophy at the Interflam Conference held at the University of Nottingham in England. The award is given once every three years for key contributions and leadership in the field of fire science.
The author of more than 100 technical papers and a book on mathematical fire modeling, Janssens holds a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from the Universiteit Gent (Ghent University) in Belgium and a doctoral degree in fire protection engineering.
He is an associate editor for Fire and Materials, an international and scientific technical journal, and also serves on the editorial board of two fire journals. Janssens teaches an online graduate program course in fire protection engineering for the University of Maryland. He is a member of several international and national professional organizations including ASTM International, International Association of Fire Safety Science, International Standards Organization (ISO), National Fire Protection Association, and SFPE. He currently serves as chair of the North American Fire Testing Laboratories Consortium, third vice-chair of ASTM Committee E05 on Fire Standards and chair of ASTM Subcommittee E05.21 on Smoke and Combustion Products.
For more information, contact Tracey M.S. Whelan, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238-5166.