Vice President & Executive Director, UL Research Institutes

Steve Kerber is Vice President and Executive Director of the Fire Safety Research Institute at UL Research Institutes. He leads a fire safety research team dedicated to addressing the worlds unresolved fire safety risks and emerging dangers to reduce death, injury and loss from fire. Kerber has led research in the areas of fire safety engineering, firefighter safety, fire forensics, and fire science. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland and PhD from Lund University in Sweden. Kerber is also a 13-year veteran of the fire service, with most of his service at the College Park Fire Department in Prince George’s County Maryland where he served at ranks up through Deputy Chief. Kerber directed the independent, broad-based analysis of the August 8,2023 Maui Wildfires at the request of the State of Hawaii Attorney General. He is currently directing the analysis of the 2025 Southern California Fires for the Office of the Governor.