About the Student Pitch Competition
The 2026 WUI Fire Engineering Summit will feature a new “Student Pitch Competition,” with $20,000+ USD in grants awarded to the winning teams, courtesy of support provided by the United Engineering Foundation and the SFPE Foundation.
WUI fires present a complex set of challenges that require an interdisciplinary set of solutions. As such, a major goal of the 2026 WUI Fire Engineering Summit is to encourage collaboration between researchers from different engineering subfields and related backgrounds.
A Selection Committee will review the written proposals and name three teams as finalists. Two students from each finalist team will attend and present a 5-minute pitch during the WUI Summit as part of the competition, showcasing their idea, strategy, and real-world relevance. This session will give participants the opportunity to demonstrate innovation, professionalism, and persuasive communication while receiving feedback from industry experts.
Team Requirements & Eligibility
Each team must consist of at least two and no more than five undergraduate and/or graduate students from multiple engineering subfields or related backgrounds working together on a proposed project.
The student team members can be from the same or different universities, and each team must identify a primary/lead student team member.
Students can participate on more than one team. There is no limit to the number of proposals a team can submit.
Each team must have at least one project supervisor (a faculty member or post-doctoral researcher) who will submit a letter of support. Additional letters of support from industry or academic project advisors are welcome.
Proposal Timeline & Selection Process
All student pitch proposals are due on Friday, May 1, 2026, using the link below.
The Selection Committee will evaluate the proposals and name three finalists by June 1, 2026.
All three finalists will be expected to have a maximum of two student representatives from their team present their five-minute “pitch" for their collaborative project live during the 2026 WUI Fire Engineering Summit on August 11. To support this, each finalist team may receive two complimentary student registrations and two travel grants ($1,000 USD each) to support their attendance and presentation at the Summit.
All three finalists will have their pitches evaluated by a panel of industry and academic experts, and all 2026 WUI Fire Engineering Summit attendees will be invited to participate in an “audience vote” component of the evaluation.
The grand prize-winning project “pitch” will be awarded a $10,000 USD grant to support their project, and the two runners-up will each be awarded a $5,000 USD grant.
How to Apply
Click the link below to submit your proposal. For a list of the required information, click here to download a PDF of the submission questions.
Your proposal must be submitted via the Google Form linked below. If you cannot access Google Forms due to a firewall issue, please email: FoundationEvents@sfpefoundation.org for instructions regarding an alternative submission process.