Isman, Kenneth E.
James A. Milke, Ph.D. Endowed Professor of Practice in FPE
EDUCATION
- B.S., Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland, 1986
- M.S., Management, University of Maryland University College, 2003
BACKGROUND
From 1987 to 2014, Mr. Isman was an engineer with the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), where he ultimately rose to the position of Vice President of Engineering. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Connecticut and is an elected Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). Isman has represented the fire sprinkler industry on over a dozen of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) technical committees, including the Technical Correlating Committee on Automatic Sprinklers, the Committee on Residential Sprinkler Systems (which he currently Chairs), the Committee on Sprinkler System Discharge Criteria, the Committee on Safety to Life in Residential Occupancies, and the Committee on Fire Pumps. From 2000 to 2006 he was a member of the NFPA Standards Council.
A noted author and lecturer, Mr. Isman has written and edited numerous publications and handbooks for the NFSA, NFPA and SPFE, including the textbook Layout, Detail and Calculation of Fire Sprinkler Systems, the Fire Pump Handbook, and Pumps for Fire Protection Systems, co-authored with Milosh Puchovsky. He wrote a regular technical article for the NFSA’s SQ Magazine and served as the editor of Sprinkler TechNotes, its bimonthly newsletter. He has been a speaker at more than 600 seminars, workshops and conferences on fire protection systems.
HONORS AND AWARDS
- Elected Fellow, Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE)
- Inaugural Class of University of Maryland Fire Protection Engineering Distinguished Alumni (2015)
- NFPA Standards Medal (2017)
- SFPE Harold E. Nelson Service Award (2018)
- University of Maryland Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Faculty Mentor Award (2022)