Rate My Professor Joshua Reichert

Joshua Reichert serves as Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology program in the College of Justice, Safety, and Military Science at Eastern Kentucky University. He holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Eastern Kentucky University, completed between 2019 and 2022, and a graduate degree from the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE) program jointly offered by the University of Edinburgh, Lund University, and Ghent University. A licensed Professional Engineer (PE) specializing in fire protection, Reichert teaches fire science courses, earning high student evaluations for his instruction. In 2022, he received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, acknowledging his effective teaching, scholarly output including multiple publications and conference presentations and posters, and dedicated service at departmental, college, university, and community levels, including as faculty advisor for student organizations and volunteer with a local fire department.

Reichert's research focuses on fire protection systems performance, occupant tenability during fires, and occupational safety culture. He led full-scale fire testing projects in EKU's burn building in collaboration with the National Fire Sprinkler Association, comparing standard and quick-response sprinklers in non-standardized fire scenarios using thermocouples to assess environmental conditions pre-activation; student collaborators analyzed data for reports submitted to codes and standards committees. His publications include 'The Relationship Between Reporting Occupational Injuries and Company Safety Culture' (2021, co-authored with Clint Pinion and Nathaniel Stephens) and contributions to the Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (Springer, 2018-2021) on fire prevention, protection, and life safety; prescriptive and performance-based design; and fire evacuation engineering solutions. Reichert advises the EKU student chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), serves as Treasurer for the SFPE Kentucky Chapter, and acts as an alternate on NFPA technical committees. He was instrumental in advancing House Bill 306 (passed 2025), removing barriers for EKU program graduates to obtain PE licensure in Kentucky, thereby enhancing career opportunities for alumni in the state.