Vinny Gupta, PhD
Assistant Professor
Email: vinny.gupta@uwaterloo.ca
Location: E7 3404
Phone: 519-888-4567 x45063
Status: Active
Biography
Vinny Gupta is an Assistant Professor in Fire Safety Engineering at the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, and works within the Fire Research Group at University of Waterloo. He works in the area of fire safety, specializing in emerging hazards such as battery energy storage, tall building architecture, and sustainable construction materials. Vinny completed his PhD at The University of Queensland in 2021 on the fire dynamics of large compartments found in contemporary tall buildings, and subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The University of Sydney from 2021 - 2024 developing advanced laser diagnostic techniques and canonical experiments to investigate wall bounded fires, thermal runaway of Li-ion battery cells, and water-mist fire suppression of turbulent flames. His research expertise focuses on multi-scale fire testing and the development of non-intrusive (laser-based) and intrusive diagnostic techniques to investigate phenomena of flame spread, fire growth, flame extinction, and fire chemistry in the context of lithium-ion batteries, mass timber construction, large compartments fires, wildland fires, and fire suppression systems.
His work with the UW Fire Research Group is undertaken in the state-of-the-art UW Large Fire Research Facility. The facility has the capability for both bench and large-scale fire testing and hosts a range of experimental research projects on material flammability, full-scale building fires, wildland fire emission and spread quantification, fire detection and suppression methods, thermal runaway of Li-ion battery cells and modules, and several others.
His work with the UW Fire Research Group is undertaken in the state-of-the-art UW Large Fire Research Facility. The facility has the capability for both bench and large-scale fire testing and hosts a range of experimental research projects on material flammability, full-scale building fires, wildland fire emission and spread quantification, fire detection and suppression methods, thermal runaway of Li-ion battery cells and modules, and several others.
Research Interests
- Fire dynamics
- Li-ion battery fire and explosions
- Laser diagnostics
- Wildland fires
- Timber buildings
- Wildland fires
- Fire safety of mass timber buildings
- Fire suppression
- Fire Safety Engineering
Education
- 2015 Bachelor's, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Australia
- 2021 Doctorate, Fire Safety Engineering, The University of Queensland, Australia
Awards
- 2021 Sheldon Tieszen Student Award, International Forum of Fire Research Directors
- 2019 APC1SS Best Poster Prize, 1st Asia-Pacific Combustion Institute Summer School
Teaching*
- ME 567 - Fire Safety Engineering
- Taught in 2025
- ME 671 - Fundamental Fire Dynamics
- Taught in 2025
- MTE 202 - Ordinary Differential Equations
- Taught in 2024
* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.
Selected/Recent Publications
- Vinny Gupta, All Publications, [https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=OHVguZIAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate]
Graduate studies
- Currently considering applications from graduate students. A completed online application is required for admission; start the application process now.