Key Takeaways

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• Rich ’s Background
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• Valparaiso University Grad, ,multi-Fraternity member 
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• Always wanted to go into engineering
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• Passion started in Junior High School when he modified a bike
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• Originally wanted to be in mechanical engineering, pivoted to civil engineering. 
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• Working at UL
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• Had a friend who introduced him to the company. 
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• Lab work/office work combo was appealing.
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• Did not think of it at Life Safety or Fire Protection.
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• Started in tunnel testing
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• Moved over to fire-resistance group
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• 43 years at UL
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• Project Engineer Work 
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• Interior finish materials, insulation materials 
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• Steiner Tunnel Test
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• Involved in the MGM Fire investigation. 
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• Several major historical fires had impact on testing methods and codes. 
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• Impacting Change
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• Joined Fire Resistance Group at UL in 1987
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• Niche group that was into Fire Stopping
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• Wanted to move the industry forward. 
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• Involved in evolutionary changes to standards. 
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• Air Leakage Tests didn’t exist at the time. 
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• Many standards didn’t exist, drain systems, perimeter fire containment, etc. 
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• Senior Regulatory Engineer
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• Regulatory Services Group at UL
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• Interfaces with code enforcement committee
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• Involved in code development
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• Opportunity to do training with code officials 
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• Consulting Work
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• Recommissioned his side business of racing cars to become his consulting business. 
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• Engineering judgements
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• Trying to avoid conflicts with the fire industry 
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About Rich

I am leveraging my 43 years of experience at UL by providing fire protection related consulting services. Areas of expertise include building materials, fire-resistance-rated construction, and the protection of breaches within fire-resistance-rated construction.

Services provided by Creative Technology include teaching, assistance in identifying and interpreting UL Fire-Resistance Designs, engineering judgments, code development, standards development, writing technical articles and technical manuals, and assistance with product certifications.

RichWalke61@gmail.com