Abstract :

Dr. Louis Gritzo is vice president and manager of research with FM Global, one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers. He oversees FM Global’s team of scientists, with expertise in fire, explosions, natural hazards (windstorms, flood, and earthquakes) and risk and reliability, who seek to understand property hazards and identify solutions that to prevent loss at client facilities. Gritzo also oversees activities at FM Global’s US$125-million, 1,600 acre, Research Campus in West Glocester, RI USA, the world’s largest center for property loss prevention research. Prior to joining FM Global in 2006, Gritzo was manager of fire science and technology at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, USA and was a member of its Advanced Concepts Group think tank.  He currently serves on the Governing Board of the Global Earthquake Model, as the Chair of the Research Leadership Team of the Industrial Research Institute, and on Advisory Committees for several universities. He has served as chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Heat Transfer Division Executive Committee and on the Research Advisory Committee for the National Fire Protection Association. In 2013, he received the 75th Anniversary medal from the ASME Heat Transfer Division. Gritzo has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, with a minor in applied mathematics, from Texas Tech University, USA.