MS FPE Curriculum
Course pre-requisites and descriptions can be found in the Cal Poly Catalog
Overview
The Fire Protection Engineering curriculum is designed to build on the skills, knowledge, and broad engineering principles students acquire in an undergraduate engineering program or in a closely related technical field. The required and elective courses composing the Master of Science degree in Fire Protection Engineering address the specific body of knowledge required by the fire protection engineering profession.
Objective
Students completing the program will possess the technical knowledge, skills and tools required to practice fire protection engineering in a variety of local, national and international settings. Upon completion of this program, students will possess the necessary knowledge and skills to pursue professional certification and licensure in the fire protection engineering discipline.
The FPE MS degree program requires the successful completion of the following:
45
total credits
10
4-credit courses
1
5-credit culminating project experience
Students must also present and defend their culminating projects to a review committee.
Fundamental Courses
The MS degree program requires completion of the following four fundamentals courses:
| Course Title | Course Number | Prerequisite(s) | Course Offering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fundamental Thermal Sciences | FPE S501 | Consent of Instructor | Fall Quarter |
| Fire Dynamics | FPE S502 | FPE S501, Consent of Instructor | Winter Quarter |
| Flammability Assessment Methods | FPE S503 | FPE S502 | Spring Quarter |
| Fire Modeling | FPE S504 | FPE S502, FPE S503 | Summer Quarter |
Applied Courses
The MS degree program requires completion of the following four applied courses:
| Course Title | Course Number | Prerequisite(s) | Course Offering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egress Analysis and Design | FPE S521 | Consent of Instructor | Fall Quarter |
| Water-based Fire Suppression Systems | FPE S523 | FPE S501 or Consent of Instructor | Winter Quarter |
| Fire Detection, Alarm and Communication Systems | FPE S522 | Consent of Instructor | Spring Quarter |
| Structural Fire Protection | FPE S524 | Consent of Instructor | Summer Quarter |
Elective Courses
Students must also complete two elective courses, from a list of approved electives. Within FPE, the following courses are currently offered:
| Course Title | Course Number | Prerequisite(s) | Course Offering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Safety Regulation and Management | FPE S551 | Consent of Instructor | Fall Quarter |
| Smoke Management and Special Hazards | FPE S552 | FPE S502, FPE S504 | Winter Quarter |
| Forensic Fire Analysis | FPE S554 | Consent of Instructor | Spring Quarter |
| Fire Protection Management in the Wildland-Urban Interface | FPE S555 | Consent of Instructor | Spring Quarter |
Culminating Experience
As a part of this 5-unit course, students must complete an FPE project as their culminating experience.
The culminating project experience will typically be for students to perform a comprehensive fire and life safety evaluation of a selected building, prepare a comprehensive report documenting the results of this evaluation and present their analysis and findings to a review committee. Other culminating projects of similar scope and complexity may be submitted for approval.