Jeff Kimble - Associate Professor - Program Coordinator

David Murphy - Associate Professor

Joe Urbas - Associate Professor

Aixi Zhou - Assistant Professor

Marc Janssens - Adjunct

Laura Ferren - Adjunct

Carr Boyd - Adjunct

David Rose - Adjunct

Jeff Kimble

Jeff comes to UNC Charlotte with over 20 years of fire service experience.  He is an instructor with the Virginia Department of Fire Programs and a Technician with Virginia's Heavy and Tactical Rescue teaching team.  Jeff completed his Bachelors degree in Fire Safety Engineering Technology and Masters of Science in Industrial Training at Eastern Kentucky University. Jeff has also completed the course work on a Doctorate in Instructional Design at the University of Kentucky and is a candidate for that degree.  Research interests include scale modeling of fires, arson and explosion investigation and juvenile fire setters.

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Office Phone: 704 687 4177

Jeff's Web Page

David Murphy

Dave comes to UNC Charlotte with a total of twenty years combined fire service experience.  Having served with both the Madison County, KY & Richmond, KY Fire Departments, his experience represents an equal amount of both rural and urban fire suppression duties.  Dave retired from the Richmond Fire Department as Assistant Chief.  He is a KY certified EMT and has served as a KY Vocational Tech Fire Instructor.  Dave also has experience in the private sector as a Safety Director with AFG Industries.  He has a Bachelors degree in Fire & Safety Engineering Technology and a Masters degree in Loss Prevention & Safety, both from Eastern Kentucky University.  He enthusiastically supports higher education possibilities for all members of the fire service.

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Office Phone: 704 687 4187

David's Web Page

Joe Urbas

Joe Urbas has over 30 years of experience in various areas of fire safety, mainly in research, litigation support testing and modeling, standard testing, and fire protection engineering.  He holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.  Joe is a member of ASTM Committee E-5 on Fire Standards and has been involved for many years in the work of International Standardization Organization (ISO).  He has been a U.S. assigned expert to ISO, Technical Committee 92, Subcommittee 1 (Reactions to Fire).  His work has been extensively published (over 50 publications) and presented at national and international fire research and other conferences.  He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at various universities.  Joe’s recent work was related to fire re-creation in support of fire investigation, the development of measurement techniques for material fire properties needed as input in fire models, and various aspects of fire protection engineering.  He is interested in contributing to further development of the FSET program at UNC Charlotte as well as to research capabilities within the program.

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Office Phone 704 687 3729

Joe's Web Page

Aixi Zhou

Aixi Zhou obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech in 2002. Prior to joining UNC Charlotte, he conducted research at Virginia Tech, the University of California-San Diego, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Lausanne (EPFL). While at EPFL, he developed and taught two new graduate level courses. Aixi has been active in research in the areas of fire resistant materials and structures, structural fire safety, methods and tools for fire safety evaluation and investigation, polymer composites and adhesives, and solid mechanics. He has over 40 scientific publications in journals, books, and conference proceedings. Aixi is interested in teaching courses in fire safety engineering and engineering mechanics.

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Office Phone 704 687 3727

Aixi's Web Page

Marc Janssens

Marc Janssens holds a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering (1980) and a Ph.D. in Fire Protection Engineering (1991) from the University of Ghent in Belgium. He has more than 20 years experience in fire testing and research. Marc was a full-time Associate Professor in the FSET program at UNC Charlotte from August 2000 through June 2002. He is currently the Director of the Department of Fire Technology at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, TX (http://fire.swri.org). He has more than 70 publications in journals, books, and conference proceedings, is Associate Editor for Fire and Materials, and serves as First Vice Chairman of ASTM Committee E05 on Fire Standards. Marc is now also an Adjunct Associate Professor and teaches in the Distance Education FSET Program at UNC Charlotte.

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Laura Ferren

Laura comes to UNC Charlotte with over 15 years in the fire protection industry.  She served as a Loss Prevention Consultant and Training Specialist for one of the largest insurance companies in the industry, FM Global (formally Factory Mutual).  During her tenure, she conducted countless industrial plant site evaluations, designed fire protection strategies and reviewed construction and sprinkler drawings.  She was also responsible for the hiring and training of engineers that served a seven state geographical region.  Laura is a graduate from NC State with a BS degree in Engineering.  She holds a PE in the area of Fire Protection.  She is excited to be able to bring real world examples and the perspective of fire protection property insurance to the course material.

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Carr Boyd

Carr holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  He has also completed the course work for a Ph.D. in Public Policy from UNC-Charlotte and is currently working toward candidacy in that program.  He has 12 years of experience in the fire service and emergency medical services, is a National Registered Paramedic, a Level II fire instructor (NC), and he has served as an EMS Instructor and Disaster Task Force Leader for the State of Virginia.  Carr currently holds the rank of Captain with the Charlotte Fire Department.  His research interests include socioeconomic factors related to fire, labor market issues, emergency management/disaster management, and applying econometric/research methods to issues affecting the fire service.

Office Phone: 704 687 3041

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David Rose

David is a Battalion Chief with the Charlotte Fire Department.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Fire Science from the University of Maryland, and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from UNC Charlotte.  During his 30 year career as a firefighter he has served as a volunteer firefighter/paramedic in his home state of Pennsylvania.  His career with the Charlotte Fire Department started in 1982 with his appointment as a firefighter.  He was promoted to Fire Captain in 1987 and Battalion Chief in 1999.  David spent time as a Training Officer and also served as an adjunct instructor for Central Pediment Community College in their Fire Science Program.  Recently he served the Idlewild Volunteer Fire Department as a part time paid firefighter in their combination department.  David maintains his certification as a North Carolina EMT and Haz-Mat Technician.  David also has been recognized by the International Association of Fire Chiefs by his designation as a Chief Fire Officer.  David is an avid golfer with a 10 handicap.  He competes regularly on a local amateur golf tour.

Office Phone: 704 687 3041

Email David Rose