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Program Faculty Members

Faculty

The FPE program includes a number of Cal Poly faculty members and working professionals as instructors in the program. Many courses will be taught by teams of instructors to provide both theoretical and practical perspectives on the subject matter. A number of working professionals also serve as professional mentors for students in the program.

Professor Richard Emberley

Mechanical Engineering
remberle@calpoly.edu

Professor Emberley is the Director of Fire Protection Engineering Programs at Cal Poly. He has expertise in thermal sciences, structural engineering, and fire protection engineering. He teaches courses in fire dynamics, flammability, structural fire safety, and fire safety regulations and management, and advises student thesis projects.

Professor Christopher Pascual

Mechanical Engineering
cpascual@calpoly.edu

Professor Chris Pascual is the Graduate Coordinator of the FPE Program, with responsibility for program admissions and managing current students in the FPE programs. He teaches courses related to the thermal sciences in both the FPE Program as well as the Mechanical Engineering Department. Chris also organizes and teaches FPE 5598 (Project) which is the culminating experience for the master's degree.

Professor Lonny Simonian

Construction Management
lsimonia@calpoly.edu

Professor Simonian has expertise in electrical systems and ventilation systems; he will be involved in teaching courses related to fire detection, alarm and communication systems, and smoke management systems.

Francisco Joglar

fjoglar@calpoly.edu

Professor Joglar is a senior consultant with the Kleinsorg Group Risk Services. He has expertise in fire protection for commercial nuclear plants, fire modeling and Fire Probabilistic Risk Assessment (FPRA).

Mark J. Ferraresi, PE

Senior Fire Protection Engineer
mferrare@calpoly.edu

Mark Ferraresi is a registered fire protection engineer working at Jensen Hughes.  He works on a variety of fire protection design and consulting projects, including sprinkler systems, high-piled storage, and fire/life safety analysis. He lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife, Rachael, a large animal veterinarian at Cal Poly, and their horse, Mr. Strawberry, and dog, Honey.  Mark enjoys hiking, fencing, and making pottery.

Steven Carman

Steven Carman is President of Carman & Associates Fire Investigation, Inc. in Northern California and a retired ATF Senior Special Agent with extensive experience in fire investigation, including nine years on the ATF National Response Team. He holds degrees from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he earned an M.S. in Fire Protection Engineering. Carman has lectured internationally on fire science and investigation and has served in advisory and leadership roles with organizations including Fire Technology, NIST’s OSAC, Underwriters Laboratories, and the International Association of Arson Investigators.