Long-Time Terp, Professor and Leading Fire Protection Engineer Retires from the University

Investing 27 years as a professional fire protection engineer paid off for long-time professor, mentor and colleague to many, Kenneth “Ken” Isman, who retired from the University of Maryland leaving a breadth of knowledge for generations to come.

A New York native turned Terp, Isman worked most of his career at the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), beginning in 1987, and was handed chief technical responsibilities in 2012. His administration’s motto was to operate with transparency, fairness and simplicity, to ensure that NFSA fulfilled its role as “the voice of the fire sprinkler industry.” By 2014, he had soared to the Vice Presidency of Engineering.

Shortly after he would become the first endowed clinical professor at UMD’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering, with a role of maintaining an undergraduate curriculum at the forefront of industry practices, while also teaching fundamental courses and enhancing hands-on learning experiences.

He has since stood up to the challenge. Having taught a total of 13 undergraduate courses, including all design-based classes, he knew how to place the industry’s demands as well as student well-being at the core of his teaching strategy. Toss in a new entrepreneurship course that gives students a ‘Shark Tank’ experience at the end of the semester, and Isman was poised to earn the Dean’s Outstanding Performance Award for Professional Track Faculty in 2023.

But even before joining the university, he had already established the reputation of a leading fire protection engineer. After earning his bachelor’s degree in 1986, and a master’s of science in management in 2003, the clinical professor would embark on a journey as a practitioner and subject matter expert, authoring a book titled “Layout, Detail and Calculation of Fire Sprinkler Systems,” as well as co-authoring the “Fire Pump Handbook.”

He also contributed to industry growth by representing the fire sprinkler industry before several of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) committees, including the Technical Correlating Committee on Automatic Sprinklers and the Committee on Residential Sprinkler Systems, among others. He also served as a member of the NFPA Standards Council from 2000 to 2006.

Decades of insight were passed on to students during his 10-year tenure, which marked its end this year. Now, the department wishes Isman a joyful transition into his retirement.

“Ken has been an exceptional Professor of Practice in FPE. He is a star in the classroom, with a popularity that is due to his passion for teaching, his mastery of the FPE material, his friendly demeanor, his mentoring skills—and occasionally his musical abilities—that have inspired our students for the past decade. We wish him well but will also miss him dearly,” said Arnaud Trouvé, chair of fire protection engineering. “He was the first in a position created to represent the point of view and the experience of practitioners in the FPE portfolio of courses, which is funded by generous donations made by alumni and friends of the department.”

Isman’s awards include Elected Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, Fire Protection Engineering Distinguished Alumni, National Fire Protection Association Standards Medal, Society of Fire Protection Engineers Harold E. Nelson Service Award and UMD’s Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Faculty Mentor Award.

To celebrate his 10-year tenure at the university, FPE reached out to some of his former students who had a few words of farewell for him. Watch them in the video below.

Additionally, here are some highlights of his time as a professor. Photos of his retirement reception held on November 1 will be made available soon.

	Isman teaches “Water Based Fire Protection Systems Design” at the sprinkler laboratory located in the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute. He collected industrial donations for equipment that is now being used to teach students in this course.
	At the end of the “Think Tank” course, students present their company or product idea to a panel of fire protection experts at Jensen Hughes, the global consulting firm that sponsors the course. Isman, who developed the class to instill the business mindset onto entrepreneurial students, secured this partnership that awards the Top 3 winning ideas with a cash prize.
	At the 2024 NFPA Conference and Expo, Isman engaged with industry professionals to learn more about FPE and the new online program. Every year, he was involved in the recruitment activities hosted at the Clark School as well as in Maryland High Schools.
	In the first episode of the Clark School’s “Ask an Engineer” series, Isman debunks the common misrepresentation of fire sprinklers activation in pop-culture movies, showing scenes from films such as “Mean Girls.” Isman displays sprinkler sensors while describing the operating mechanism of these systems.
	In 2017, Isman received the NFPA Standards Medal, which is awarded to a technical committee member who provides outstanding contributions to fire safety in the development of standards prepared by NFPA technical committees.