Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
University of Maryland Fire Protection Engineering Department Contest Builds Awareness and Excitement
DeMatha Catholic High School has won the 10th annual Design Challenge competition hosted by the University of Maryland’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering (FPE), earning its second victory since 2016. The “Amigos” team demonstrated the ability to build a system that successfully detects and suppresses a flame in a reduced-scale house model. Their innovative design impressed judges and team mentors assessing creative and innovative approaches.
Six other schools participated in the challenge this year, including Atholton High School, Elizabeth Seton High School, Mount De Sales Academy, Notre Dame Preparatory School, Old Mill High School, and Woodlawn High School. “The Design Challenge is our premium outreach event for high-school students and is a fantastic introduction to the principles of engineering design and fire protection engineering,” says Arnaud Trouvé, chair of the department. “The event also serves as a recruitment tool for FPE.”
Each year, the challenge brings together high school teams from local areas to expose students to basic principles of fire safety engineering, construction skills, and the scientific method. The goal is that participation in the program will boost student confidence in pursuing STEM careers, and the department welcomes excitement to learn about fire protection engineering, a field not broadly known.
Teams typically formed by three to five students are assembled and paired with a professional or teacher mentor in October to begin learning challenge guidelines and review supporting materials provided by the department. Early design and testing of housing models begins in February through competition day in April.
The race for first place is held in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) facilities in Beltsville, Md., where each team is given a chance to showcase their prototypes in a burn test to demonstrate efficient fire suppression methodologies. The world-class ATF facilities ensure that a safe environment is kept in place for the participants.
The Design Challenge is proud to thank AFSA for their annual donation that supports the supplies provided to the schools, prizes provided to winning teams, and marketing for the program. “It was a pleasure to attend this year’s competition, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the competitors and their systems,” states AFSA’s Vice President of Engineering & Technical Services John August Denhardt, P.E., FSFPE, and alumnus of UMD’s FPE program, who attended the event with Past AFSA Chair of the Board Jack Medovich, P.E., Summit Companies and a fellow alumnus. “AFSA is committed to supporting this endeavor to educate more students about the exciting field of fire protection engineering.”
Visit https://fpe.umd.edu/FPEDC to learn more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Daniela Benites is the communications coordinator for the University of Maryland’s Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Fire Protection Engineering.
