Siemens Building Technologies Division announced it gave Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) $100,000 to support the construction of the school’s Fire Protection Engineering Lab. In recognition of the gift, WPI named the Fire Protection Engineering building’s conference center after Siemens to honor its leading role in supporting the advancement of fire and smoke detection technology and its underlying scientific study, the institution said.

Siemens support is earmarked for the school’s Fire Protection Engineering Lab, a facility that has been forwarding engineering and other advanced degrees, graduating fire protection engineers since 1979. Since the school’s inception, WPI has matriculated 596 fire protection engineers, most now serving the industry directly and ensuring that America’s buildings and their occupants are safer from fire-related emergencies.