About

Wildfire with equipment picture with partner logos

The roots of San Jose State University's Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC) began in 2007 when Dr. Craig Clements started the Fire Weather Research Laboratory to conduct field studies of fire-atmospheric interactions. His lab has grown to national and international prominence and led to the 2020 hiring of five faculty experts in different fire-related fields: fire behavior modeling, wildfire dynamics, fire ecology, social science, and remote sensing. In 2021, WIRC successfully applied to the NSF to become their Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), focusing on wildfire. In May 2023, Worcester Polytechnic Institute joined WIRC as a "Partner" site, bringing wildfire expertise in firefighter safety and fire spread in the wildland-urban interface.

Our Origin Story

Our Mission

We aim to conduct high-impact interdisciplinary wildfire research to help California and the world manage a growing crisis of increasing wildfire frequency and intensity.

Goal 1

Pursue fundamental engineering and scientific research in wildfire with relevance to industry and society
Goal 2

Work with industry partners to develop new prediction and observational tools to better understand extreme fire behavior in a changing climate
Goal 3

Produce diverse graduates who have a broad, industry-oriented, and societally relevant perspective in their research

SJSU Faculty & Researchers

Dr. Craig B. Clements

WIRC Center Director, Chair and Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science
Dr. Ismaila Diallo

Assistant Professor of Climate Dynamics (coming to WIRC in January 2024)
Dr. Adam Kochanski

Associate Professor of Wildfire Modeling
Dr. Ali Tohidi

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Wildfire Dynamics
Dr. Kate Wilkin

Assistant Professor of Fire Ecology
Dr. Minghui Diao

Associate Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science
Dr. A.J. Faas

Associate Professor of Anthropology
Dr. Ben Reed

Professor of Computer Engineering
Dr. Bo Yang

Assistant Professor of Urban & Regional Planning
Dr. Julia Gaudinski

Research Scientist in Soil Biogeochemistry, Research Director WIRC
Dr. Aurélien Costes

Postdoctoral Researcher, Wildfire Modeling
Dr. Angel Farguell Caus

Postdoctoral Researcher, Wildfire Modeling

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WPI Faculty & Researchers

Dr. Albert Simeoni

WPI Site Director, Professor and Department Head of Fire Protection Engineering
Dr. Nicholas Dembsey

Professor of Fire Protection Engineering
Dr. Shichao Liu

Assistant Professor of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
Dr. Milosh Puchovsky

Professor of Practice and Associate Department Head of Fire Protection Engineering
Dr. Ali S. Rangwala

Professor of Fire Protection Engineering
Dr. James Urban

Assistant Professor of Fire Protection Engineering
Dr. Carlo Pinciroli

Associate Professor of Robotics Engineering
Dr. Nima Rahbar

Professor of Engineering
Dr. Reza Ziazi

Assistant Research Professor of Fire Protection
Dr. Muthu Kumaran Selvaraj

Assistant Research Professor, Fire Protection Engineering

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Affiliated Faculty & Researchers

Dr. Amanda M. Stasiewicz

Assistant Professor of Wildfire Management
Dr. Mario Miguel Valero Pérez

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Dr. Jan Mandel

Professor of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences at University of Colorado, Denver
Dr. Patrick Brown

Co-Director of the Climate and Energy Team at The Breakthrough Institute