FSRI Welcomes Sixth UMD Fellow

Shaheer Ahmad joins FSRI team as the sixth UMD Fellow.

Shaheer Ahmad, a Fire Protection Engineering (FPE) graduate student at the University of Maryland (UMD), has joined the team as the sixth recipient of UL's Fire Safety Research Institute Fellowship. The fellowship, established in 2017, supports an FPE graduate research assistant and will be renewed each semester provided the Fellow remains in good academic standing.

Shaheer received his bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering (FPE) from the University of Maryland in 2021. During his time at Maryland, Shaheer was a member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) sponsored Fire Protection Engineering Ambassadors, College Park Scholars, and volunteered as a research assistant in the UMD FPE labs.

Coming into the University of Maryland, Shaheer was not initially planning to pursue a career in fire protection. “Switching into fire protection engineering was a leap of faith for me,” said Ahmad. “I didn’t know much about the field, but what truly stood out to me was the direct impact that this engineering had on society and the uniqueness of the topics we were studying. Looking back at it now, switching into this program was the best decision I ever made.”

“I sought out this fellowship with FSRI because the research conducted here not only protects civilians, but our own front-line firefighters as well,” Shaheer added. “I want to be able to use the fire protection knowledge from my education to help give back and ensure that our community is safe from the thermal hazards of our world. Fire is a concept that has both plagued and revolutionized mankind for generations. I wish to be a part of the team that directly works on maintaining the balance.”

Shaheer is eager to contribute to research at FSRI while pursuing his master’s degree at the University of Maryland.