36/Plumbing Engineer June 2019

now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). My supervisor was Harold E. (Bud) Nelson. Bud oversaw a group whose job it was to take the basic research in fire (such as a study that took over one thousand data points on the ignition of a match head) and transfer it to an applied use. Part of Bud's job was to convince those with the money only interested in funding applied research proj- ects to spare a dime for basic research. He happened to brilliant at it. Bud developed many engineering tools still in use today. He was the developer of the goal-oriented systems approach to fire protection engineering while running the FPE ground at the GSA. This approach was a forerunner of what we now call performance-based design. I was never the best-dressed student intern and one day Bud called me his "sartorial splendor." Had to look that one up. While at NIST, Bud also developed the Fire Safety Evaluation System that is used extensively in all manner of occupancies, including health care and detention. But this was not the thing I value most from knowing him. It was later after I began working as an engineer-in-training with the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Pearl Harbor (once known as PACDIV). While attending a Dallas National Fire Protection ter in the program, he arranged for me to receive a full- tuition scholarship from the Maryland State Volunteer Fireman's Association through graduation. Career Mentors Dr. Bryan was the first person at the university who showed an interest in me and I will never forget it. Of course, Prof was a tremendous mentor to many students in the program (see my Plumbing Engineer column, "Prof," in the December 2014 issue). Phil DiNenno was a friend and fellow student; not a mentor in the usual sense, though he definitely was someone I looked up to. We went separate ways after graduation but I followed his career and always admired him for his accomplishments and the positive impact he had on the profession (see my column, "Fire Gods," September 2013). When this magazine was looking for a replacement for the fire protection column in 2009, it was Phil who recommended me as the replacement to Morgan Hurley, who at that time was the Society of Fire Protection Engineers' technical director. I only found this out at Phil's funeral in 2013. During my second junior year in college (after switch- ing majors I was now on the five-year plan) I worked part-time as an engineering intern at the Center for Fire Research at the National Bureau of Standards,

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