Daniel Martin (BSME '11), a Champaign native and research specialist with the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI), has received a scholarship from “Erasmus Mundus” to study engineering at three prominent European engineering schools. His studies will focus on Fire Safety Engineering.
Written by
Daniel Martin (BSME '11), a Champaign native and research specialist with the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI), has received a scholarship from “Erasmus Mundus” to study engineering at three prominent European engineering schools. His studies will focus on Fire Safety Engineering.
Since the scholarship program’s creation in 2010, Martin is the fourth student from the United States to receive the award and the second from Illinois. Both Martin and the other Illinois recipient were members of fire departments. Martin served on the Savoy Fire Department.
Martin will be studying at Ghent University in Ghent, Belgium; Lund University in Lund, Sweden, and Edinburgh University in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the end of each semester, he will switch universities to gain an international understanding of how to tackle problems that Fire Safety Engineers face around the world. He is expected to live in Europe for two years and will receive an International Master’s of Science in Fire Safety Engineering in June 2015.
During his senior year in MechSE, Martin took an engineering independent study course through IFSI to learn about Fire Protection Engineering and the science behind fire behavior. In March 2011, he organized the "Dorm Room Fire Simulation" at the University of Illinois Engineering Open House, which received 1st Prize, and in 2012 and 2013 he assisted the Society of Women Engineers with the same demonstration, which has become one of the most popular displays each year. Martin started working part time for IFSI after graduation, then full-time since October 2011. While at IFSI, Daniel worked on several federally funded projects, but most of his work focused on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant to investigate Escape Rope Performance and Design.
The Illinois Fire Service Institute is the statutory State Fire Academy for Illinois. In addition to training provided at its Champaign campus, the Institute offers one-day hands-on classes for fire departments at Regional Training Centers and local fire stations across the State. The mission of the Illinois Fire Service Institute is to help firefighters do their work through training, education, information and research.