Ankit Sharma (IntlAssoc)

Dr. Ankit Sharma currently works in the Flammability Reduction Group of the Fire Research Division (FRD) of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Gaithersburg started in January 2024. Dr. Sharma received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee India in 2021.  He is currently working on "Fire Barriers for Low Heat Release Products" project at NIST.

Dr. Sharma's research interests and expertise include using experimental and numerical techniques for investigating material flammability, fires in Li-ion batteries, micro and partial gravity, high-rise building façades and liquid pool. He is also engaged in Postgraduate Certificate in Hydrogen Safety from Ulster University, UK. 

Recently Dr. Sharma is recognized with the 5 Under 35 Award by Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), USA in 2023. He is one of the four early career researchers for the SFPE Foundation Grand Challenges Initiative to develop a 10-year strategic engagement plan for identifying how fire safety science and engineering can contribute to addressing pressing challenges in Climate Change. Dr. Sharma co-led a group of fire engineers, scientists and policy makers from 30+ organizations worldwide to come up with a 10-year timeline published recently in a whitepaper. 

Prior to joining NIST, he was working as a Post Doc Researcher on a NASA-sponsored project at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland, USA. At CWRU his research involved investigating micro and partial gravity fires. Before that he worked at ARUP as Fire Engineer working with MEP Team Mumbai (India) and Fire Team, Midlands (UK). His role was to design innovative and value-engineered solutions for providing maximum flexibility while simultaneously maintaining the highest level of fire safety within the built environment.

Dr. Sharma is member of different International Committees including ICC, SFPE, ASGSR and serves on the Editorial/Reviewer Boards of funding agencies, journals and conferences with 25+ grants reviews and 125+ peer reviews. Research contribution includes two patents and several publications in peer reviewed journals, conferences, books and magazines. 

 

• 5 Under 35 Award in 2023 by Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), USA.
• Global Challenge Initiative (GCI) Research Fellowship Fire and Climate Change in 2022 by Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) Foundation, USA. 
• Fellowship for Postgraduate Certificate in Hydrogen Safety at Ulster University by HySafe – International Association for Hydrogen Safety
• PhD and MS Fellowship by Ministry of Higher Education, Govt. of India