Andrew John Lock

Andrew Lock passed away unexpectedly on Friday, June 10, 2022 at the age of 43, at his home in Annandale, Virginia. Andrew was born to Dale M. And Rebecca Wier Lock on March 1, 1979, in Canton, Illinois. He graduated from Porta High School in 1997, having participated in marching band for six years. Andrew continued his musical performance throughout his academic years. He began studying engineering at  Lincoln and Community College and was involved with the solar car project and Sunrayce 1999. 

Andrew earned his master's and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2005 and 2007 respectively.  His Ph.D. thesis was supervised by Professor Iswar Puri and was titled "Extinction of fuel and air stream diluted partially premixed flames for fire safety". Andrew did his postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and was hired as a staff member.  While at NIST, he managed research projects, developed standards, mentored students, wrote peer-reviewed papers, and ran numerous experiments. He was awarded a NIST bronze medal for his work on thermal imaging cameras leading to the development of NFPA 1801.  Since 2010, he has been working as a manager of the fire safety laboratory in the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He is also the senior Labview developer, administers licenses, and regularly consults other engineers on data acquisition. 

Andrew met his wife Evgeniya Hristova Vassilieva during a student exchange study abroad program at the Technical University of Hamburg Harburg (TUHH) in Hamburg, Germany. They celebrated their platinum 20th anniversary on May 11th, 2022. Andrew and Evgeniya have three wonderful children - John Ralph 16, Victoria Vassilena 13, and Rebecca Daria 10. Besides his wife and children, Andrew is survived by his parents,  mother-in-law, brother, sister,  brother-in-law, grandfather, nine aunts and uncles, twenty-one cousins, and numerous next-generation cousins who grieve his passing. 

The celebration of Life services will be held at the Kirkwood Presbyterian Church in Springfield Virginia and at Providence Chapel,  Farmington, Illinois with burial at Coal Creek Cemetery.

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