Montgomery College Hosts Spectrum Lecture on Fire Safety Engineering

April 6, 2012 -- Jason Averill, the leader of the Engineered Fire Safety Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will speak at Montgomery College-Germantown on Tuesday, April 17 at 4:30 p.m. as part of the College’s Spectrum Lecture Series. The talk will take place in Globe Hall, which is located in the High Technology and Science Center, 20200 Observation Drive, Germantown, Md. This event is free and open to the public.

Like all Spectrum Lectures, Averill’s presentation is designed for a non-scientific audience, enabling scientists, students and the community to learn about ground-breaking advancements in science. He will give a general overview of fire safety engineering and show examples of how interdisciplinary research can solve real-world problems.

Unwanted fires are estimated to cost the U.S. economy over $350 billion annually, which is roughly 2.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. This talk will survey the major components of the national fire problem, discuss the basic scientific principles of combustion and fire dynamics, and highlight the critical role of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in enabling cost-effective solutions.

Averill, the author or co-author of more than 60 scientific works, has focused his research on cost-effective risk mitigation in structures, with a focus on fire hazards. He has done research on the evacuation of World Trade Center, experiments related to the toxic potency of combustible products, and most recently, risk modeling to quantify the effectiveness of fire department response to both residential and high-rise structure fires.

For questions or to request accommodations for a physical disability, please contact Susan Bontems at susan.bontems@montgomerycollege.edu or 240-567-7740. More information about Spectrum Lectures can be found at: http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/department.aspx?id=10883