Jonathan Portillo Conducts Success as Fire Protection Engineering Senior

A touch of imposter syndrome was no match for the supportive community Jonathan Portillo found as a fire protection engineering (FPE) major and Clark Opportunity Transfer Scholar (COTS). Portillo earned his associate’s degree from Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) and credits his PGCC physics professor, Neeharika Thakur, and his FPE advisor, Nicole Hollywood, for helping him make a smooth transition to UMD in 2025.

A large group of students dressed in suits poses

Portillo (rear, third from left) poses with the Fall 2025 Clark Opportunity Transfer Scholars (COTS).

FPE’s 100% Job Placement Rate Draws Students

First attracted to engineering as a means to help people and the environment, FPE proved especially attractive to Portillo for its varied career routes, including research and consulting, and 100 percent job placement rate.

He’s grateful for the tight-knit COTS program that keeps him from feeling like he’s “flailing,” he says, and for the FPE department, which has come to feel “like a little family.”

Theory in the Classroom; Experience with Real Buildings

Immersed in his major, Portillo is applying his theoretical coursework to real-life buildings and situations. ENFP440, “Smoke Management and Fire Alarm Systems,” provided his first taste of designing fire detection and alerting systems.

As a 2026 summer intern at ClarkNexsen, a JMT Company, in Hunt Valley, Maryland, he gained experience using building information modeling software to create 3D models with FPE components including smoke alarms, sprinklers, speakers, and strobes. Seeing what he learned in his classes come to life, “feels like a full circle moment,” he says.

A group of students in athletic clothes poses in a gym

Portillo (rear right) helped to start an intramural volleyball team.

Student Organizations Enrich University Experience

With many ways to find his place outside the classroom and lab—including Maryland Engineering Student Organizations—Portillo is an active member of UMD’s award-winning student chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

In his downtime the senior, who identifies as a member of both the Latine and the LGBTQ+ communities, helped start an intramural volleyball team that has grown to include engineers and non-engineers alike. “It’s pretty laid back,” he says. (Interested students can register through the UMD IMLeagues portal.)

His advice to aspiring Maryland Engineering students who might be feeling imposter syndrome? “As long as you put in the effort,” he says, “you’ll get there.”

Published September 15, 2026