About UMD's Bachelor of Science in Fire Protection Engineering 

What do you do with a Fire Protection Engineering degree? Most people don’t know. Everyone benefits from it. We expect our homes, hospitals, cars, planes, couches and mattresses to be fire safe. Fire protection engineers make it happen by:  

• Designing fire protection systems for buildings to protect people wherever they might be (like work, school, home, the hospital, a mall or a performance arena).
• Identifying fire-resistant materials for furniture, electronics or the seats in your car.
• Consulting on application of fire safety codes into building design with architects, developers, contractors, and other engineers.
• Utilizing drones and computer models to predict, visualize and fight wildfires, and help communities evacuate when fire cannot be stopped.
• Developing fire alarm technology to provide intelligence about a fire's location and severity to first responders.
• Incorporating design methods to exhaust smoke or restrict its movement in buildings in order to save lives from smoke inhalation.

This is just a small sampling of the exciting projects UMD Fire Protection Engineering students go on to pursue in their careers! Check out our Student Stories to read more about the careers our current students and alumni are pursuing.
 

What do Fire Protection Engineering Majors Study?

To prepare for careers saving lives through engineering design, fire protection engineering students receive a fundamental engineering education involving the subjects of mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Students begin to learn to apply codes and standards to design for life safety early on in the program in Intro to Life Safety Analysis class. The program builds on the core engineering subjects with applications to fire principles and phenomena through courses such as Fluid Mechanics, Heat and Mass transfer, and Fire Dynamics. Applied courses such as Smoke Management and Fire Alarm Systems, Water Based Fire Protection Systems Design, Structural Fire Protection, Enclosure Fire Modeling, among others, teach students to apply engineering concepts to fire protection system design. The program culminates in a design capstone project that gives students an opportunity to work collaboratively with peers on a real-world performance based fire protection systems design project. Wondering what the difference is between a Fire Protection Engineering versus Technology degree? Check out our Q&A Guide. 
 

Bachelor of Science Curriculum
 

Credit hours of this 4-year undergraduate curriculum total 120, and fulfill all Departmental, College and University requirements. For more information, please see the Detailed Curriculum.

Fire Protection Engineering Course Schedule