Alexander Maranghides (Fed)

Mr. Maranghides has received a B.S. Mechanical Engineering with Aerospace Concentration, and an M.S. in Fire Protection Engineering, both from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Mr Maranghides has over 25  years’ experience in large scale testing and 20 years in post fire reconstructions.

Mr. Maranghides has worked for 7 years at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), on the Navy's Halon Replacement Program. Between 1995 and 2000 Mr. Maranghides was the Test Director for NRL Real Scale Halon Replacement Test Program where he worked on the development of a holistic approach to halon replacement fire protection system design. In that capacity he analyzed current US Navy Fleet fire suppression system design criteria and firefighting doctrine. He is the co-inventor, with Dr. Ronald Sheinson of NRL, of the Water Spray Cooling System (WSCS), a patented gaseous agent suppression enhancing system used to protect shipboard compartments in Navies around the world.

After joining NIST, Mr. Maranghides run the NIST Large Fire Laboratory for seven years where he was responsible for the design and  execution of  hundreds of large-scale experiments.  In the past twenty years, Mr. Maranghides has focused his research on the national Wildland Interface (WUI) Fire problem. He has spent years in the field collecting, analyzing and documenting WUI fires and had led all four NIST WUI Fire reconstructions. His WUI findings have impacted national and regional standards.  He is currently leading a multiyear/ multiagency effort to quantify fire spread between residential structures.

His technical fields of expertise include halon replacements, fire suppression, large scale fire testing and the wildland urban interface.