Dr. Kate Wilkin

Assistant Professor of Fire Ecology | Lead of the Fire Ecology and Management Lab

Dr. Kate Wilkin is an Assistant Professor of Fire Ecology in the Biology Department at San José State University. She has nearly 20 years of experience in natural resource management, outreach, and research. She focuses on how we can live sustainability in fire-prone ecosystems like California and spans fire ecology and management from the wilderness to the wildland urban interface (WUI). Her research explores wildfire recovery of communities and natural lands, prescribed fire on private lands, and wildfire mitigation including fire resistant homes, defensible space, and fuel treatments. Wilkin lead a team to build fire literacy in California by adapting and updating the USFS FireWorks curriculum. Wilkin and her work have been featured in Science Magazine, NPR’s Science Friday, Outside Magazine, and Sunset Magazine.