Each year students who make contributions toward fire safety are awarded scholarships from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire Safety Education Memorial Fund. This year four students have been selected based on their academic achievements, leadership abilities, contributions to fire safety activities and pursuit of careers in fire safety.
Glen Savell, a student at Columbia Southern University pursuing a Bachelors degree in Fire Science, received the George D. Miller Scholarship. Savell has earned a 4.0 GPA and desires to be a fire chief in the future. He is currently an assistant fire chief of operations at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Fire Department, located in Cuba. The George D. Miller Scholarship was established in tribute to the former NFPA president and chief executive officer and provides assistance to students in fire service or public administration programs in the United States or Canada.
Alyson Blair, a junior in the Fire Protection Engineering program at the University of Maryland, was awarded the Arthur E. Cote Scholarship. Blair is pursuing her combined Bachelors and Masters Degree and is a student ambassador for the College of Engineering. Blair will be working for Jacobs Engineering this summer and aims to be a professional engineer in the future. This scholarship recognizes and offers support for students pursuing a career in fire protection engineering and was established upon Cote’s retirement from NFPA in 2006.
Lei Wang, a visiting scholar at the University of Maryland, Department of Fire Protection Engineering was selected to receive the David B. Gratz Scholarship. Wang is currently a Ph.D. student at the China University of Mining & Technology, majoring in fire protection engineering. Wang translated NFPA 1 and NFPA 130 into Chinese to be a reference for Chinese fire engineers when they design China’s codes and standards. The David B. Gratz Scholarship was established to honor Chief Gratz, the first career fire chief of Silver Springs, Maryland and former director of the Montgomery County, Md., Department of Fire Rescue and Services. Gratz was NFPA’s first executive director for international operations, a position he held for 22 years.
Haiwen "Heaven" Ding, is the recipient of the John L. Jablonsky Scholarship, which aids graduate students in fire protection programs in the United States and Canada. Ding is a graduate research assistant at the University of Maryland. She has devoted herself to volunteer work, including making a video to encourage high school students to join the fire protection engineering program. Ding aspires to work as a fire protection engineer for a few years before dedicating herself to fire research and fire education. The scholarship was named in honor of John L. Jablonsky, an insurance company executive who served on the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control and held numerous positions with NFPA. He received the Paul C. Lamb award, NFPA’s highest honor, in 1987.
