Purpose
To expose students to real-world projects while addressing timely issues of the fire protection and safety community.
About the projects
The Research Foundation works with NFPA technical committees and other stakeholder groups to identify a range of projects to meet information needs. Some of these projects are small literature reviews or assessments that might be well met by a graduate or senior level undergraduate student(s). Our approach is to match the interests of students with the project needs of the technical committees and other stakeholder groups. The advantage to the student would be working on a project that will impact codes and standards development.
How to work on one of these projects
The Research Foundation will periodically update the list of available projects below and inform our academic contacts. Student projects are not subject to the Foundation's normal Request for Proposal (RFP) process, rather they are considered as received and qualification basis. To request a project,
send an email with the following information: a) Project name; b) Faculty advisor; c) Student name(s); (d) Statement to demonstrate qualification.
The projects will be awarded to a faculty advisor working with an undergraduate student or a graduate student enrolled in any field of study. The applicant must submit in writing the following:
- Project Name, Faculty Advisor, and Student(s) Name (if already identified).
- A description of faculty advisor’s qualification (not more than one page) illustrating the ability to guide the requested project topic. Include any past relevant projects undertaken. The faculty member should also demonstrate successful supervision of other students undertaking related research projects.
As the list of available projects is periodically updated, requests for specific projects will be considered on an on-going basis.
Interested students should seek an academic advisor. Interested academic advisors should follow the process.
Additional information
The Research Foundation will provide and administer a small technical oversight panel that provides guidance through the project and is beneficial for the researchers.
The timeframes on these projects are flexible so that they fit into the academic model & schedule.
The final report from these projects is published as a Technical Note on the Research Foundation website. We also encourage the student(s) to submit for a presentation or poster at the NFPA Conference & Expo after the project is completed.
It is possible that there will be a small stipend available to support these projects.
For more information or to be added to our academic contact list, please email us.
The following projects are currently available for students (subject to on-going update)