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Erik L. Johnsson (Fed)
Erik (Rik) L. Johnsson is a mechanical engineer in the Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Group of the Fire Research Division (FRD) of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mr. Johnsson has B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has been in the NIST Fire Research Division since 1991. Mr. Johnsson is responsible for providing engineering design and analysis and planning and performing a wide range of experiments. In the WUI Fire Group, his research has focused on evaluation of hazards and mitigation solutions for landscape combustibles burning in wind. He is also working on evaluation of structure vulnerabilities to WUI fires. Prior to this, his work has had an emphasis on development and improvement of diagnostic techniques. During his tenure, Mr. Johnsson has made significant contributions to a variety of projects including: carbon monoxide production and prediction, underventilated enclosure fires, auto-ignition temperatures of fuels, soot and OH imaging with acoustically-locked methane diffusion flames, detection of halon suppressant replacements using infrared absorption, particle contamination of semiconductor wafers, kitchen range-top pre-ignition detection for cooking-related fires, advanced temperature measurements for fire research, smoke meter development, large fire laboratory calorimetry and experiment data acquisition (provided data collection for over 60 project series), heat flux calibration facility development, and motor coach tire fires. Mr. Johnsson has authored or co-authored over 70 papers. He has held memberships in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Tau Beta Pi (National Engineering Honor Society), and Pi Tau Sigma (Mechanical Engineering Honor Society).
Awards
2014 Engineering Laboratory Safety Award for outstanding contribution to the safety environment in the FRD and EL
2015 NFPA Foundation Medal for best project as a member of the Cooking Fire Mitigation Technologies Project Steering Team
2023 Department of Commerce Gold Medal for wildland-urban interface fire reconstructions and experiments