
About
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.
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Goal 1
Pursue fundamental engineering and scientific research in wildfire with relevance to industry and society
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Goal 2
Work with industry partners to develop new prediction and observational tools to better understand extreme fire behavior in a changing climate
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Goal 3
Produce diverse graduates who have a broad, industry-oriented, and societally relevant perspective in their research
SJSU Faculty & Researchers
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Dr. Craig B. Clements
WIRC Center Director, Chair and Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science
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Dr. Ismaila Diallo
Assistant Professor of Climate Dynamics
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Dr. Adam Kochanski
Associate Professor of Wildfire Modeling
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Dr. Kate Wilkin
Assistant Professor of Fire Ecology
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Dr. Minghui Diao
Associate Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science
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Dr. A.J. Faas
Associate Professor of Anthropology
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Dr. Ben Reed
Professor of Computer Engineering
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Dr. Julia Gaudinski
Research Scientist in Soil Biogeochemistry, Research Director WIRC
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Dr. Aurélien Costes
Postdoctoral Researcher, Wildfire Modeling
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Dr. Angel Farguell Caus
Postdoctoral Researcher, Wildfire Modeling
WPI Faculty & Researchers
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Dr. Albert Simeoni
WPI Site Director, Professor and Department Head of Fire Protection Engineering
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Dr. Nicholas Dembsey
Professor of Fire Protection Engineering
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Dr. Shichao Liu
Assistant Professor of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
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Dr. Milosh Puchovsky
Professor of Practice and Associate Department Head of Fire Protection Engineering
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Dr. Ali S. Rangwala
Professor of Fire Protection Engineering
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Dr. James Urban
Assistant Professor of Fire Protection Engineering
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Dr. Carlo Pinciroli
Associate Professor of Robotics Engineering
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Dr. Nima Rahbar
Professor of Engineering
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Dr. Reza Ziazi
Assistant Research Professor of Fire Protection
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Dr. Muthu Kumaran Selvaraj
Assistant Research Professor, Fire Protection Engineering
Affiliated Faculty & Researchers
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Dr. Amanda M. Stasiewicz
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Oregon
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Dr. Mario Miguel Valero Pérez
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
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Dr. Jan Mandel
Professor of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences at University of Colorado, Denver
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Dr. Patrick Brown
Co-Director of the Climate and Energy Team at The Breakthrough Institute
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Dr. Ali Tohidi
Assistant Professor of Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland
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Dr. Bo Yang
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz
Staff
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Julia Gaudinski
Research Director
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Annalisa Consani
Center Administrative Coordinator
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Werner Goveya
IT Research Support Specialist
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Mike Voss
Staff Meteorologist, Technician and IT Support
Current Students
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Scott Dilworth
Master’s Student
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Issac Forrest
Master’s Student
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Alana Macken
Master’s Student
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Daniel Moser
Master’s Student
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Jack Stevens
Master’s Student
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Aditya Shah
Master’s Student
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Rachel Hurley
PhD Student
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Caitlin Lackey
Undergraduate Student
Program Graduates
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Holt Hanley
Graduated Master’s 2022
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Jeremy Benik
Graduated Master’s 2023
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Kathleen Clough
Graduated Master’s 2023
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Justin Haw
Graduated Master’s 2023
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Kiera Malarkey
Graduated Master’s 2023
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Kate Forrest
Graduated Master’s 2023
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Maritza Arreola Amaya
Graduated Master’s 2024
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Marc Buchs
Graduated Master’s 2024
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Christopher Giesige
Graduated Master’s 2024
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Cliff Ehrke
Graduated Master’s 2024
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Jack Drucker
Graduated Master’s 2024
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David Benterou
Graduated Master’s 2024
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Henri Brillon
Graduated Master’s 2025
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Jessica Brown
Graduated Master’s 2025
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Jannike Allen
Graduated Master’s 2025
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Ian Cook
Graduated Master’s 2025
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Nick Perlaky
Graduated Master’s 2025
SJSU University Policy Committee
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Marc d'Alarcao
Dean of the College of Graduate Studies and Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation
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Andrew Exner
Executive Director of the San José State University Research Foundation
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Xiao Su
Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research for the College of Engineering
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Jessica Trask
Interim Associate Vice President for Research
WPI University Policy Committee
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John McNeill
Dean of Engineering
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Michael Timko
Associate Dean of Engineering for Research
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Antje Harnisch
Assistant Vice Provost for Research