The IAFSS Best Thesis Award “Excellence in Research” recognizes the best research theses at either the PhD or master’s level, in all the fields related to fire safety science and engineering. Three awardees were selected from the three IAFSS regions: Europe and Africa, the Americas, and Asia and Oceania. The awardees will have the opportunity to present their research at the 13th IAFSS Symposium in Waterloo, Canada. The awards committee also noted two honorable mentions. The awardees are:
Americas: Joshua D. Swann for the thesis, “A comprehensive characterization of pyrolysis and combustion of intumescent and charring polymers using two-dimensional modeling: a relationship between thermal transport and the physical structure of the intumescent char” conferred by the University of Maryland, College Park, USA, advised by Prof. Stanislav Stoliarov.
Europe and Africa: Eric V. Mueller for the thesis, “Examination of the underlying physics in a detailed wildland fire behavior model through field-scale experimentation” conferred by the University of Edinburgh, UK, advised by Dr. Rory Hadden and Prof. Albert Simeoni
Asia and Oceania: Yongzheng Yao for the thesis “Fire Behaviors and smoke transportation law of tunnel fires under confined portal boundaries” conferred by the University of Science and Technology of China, in collaboration with RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), advised by Prof. Heping Zhang and A/Prof. Xudong Cheng at USTC and Prof. Haukur Ingason and Dr. Ying Zhen Li at RISE.
Honorable mentions:
James L. Urban for the thesis “Spot ignition of natural fuels by hot metal particles” conferred by the University of California, Berkeley, USA, advised by Prof. Carlos Fernandez-Pello
Francesco Restuccia for the thesis “Self-heating ignition of natural reactive porous media” conferred by Imperial College, London, UK, advised by Prof. Guillermo Rein