As California faces wildfire season following drought in much of the state, experts at UC San Diego are available to discuss wildfires, drought, and California climate across an array of topics, including climate science, technology, public health, and economics and policy.
UC San Diego is home to two major programs that aid fire officials in mitigating wildfires. ALERTWildfire is a rapidly-expanding network of high-tech infrared cameras located throughout the West that fire agencies use to confirm locations of wildfires in their critical first moments, collect intel as fires evolve, and sequence evacuations. The WIFIRE Lab at the San Diego Supercomputer Center applies the power of data science and supercomputing to provide fire officials with real-time fire models to help strategize the best approach to containment.
Experts from UC San Diego are available to speak to media on subjects surrounding wildfires, ranging from California climate and climate change to economics and policy. If you are looking to speak with the experts listed below – simply click on their icon to arrange an interview.
For a full list of UC San Diego wildfire experts, please visit the UC San Diego Wildfire Experts Directory.
Wildfire Programs
Neal Driscoll
Co-Director of ALERTWildfire, Geoscientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
California Climate and Climate Change
Marty Ralph
Research meteorologist and Director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps
Western weather, atmospheric rivers, California water supply and reservoir management, Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations
Economics and Policy
David Victor
Political scientist at the School of Global Policy and Strategy
Impacts wildfire and other extreme events linked to climate change have on public policy, international climate negotiations and financial markets.
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Neal Driscoll Professor of Geosciences
Neal Driscoll co-leads the ALERTWildfire network, and also researches tectonic deformation and the evolution of landscapes and seascapes.
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Marty Ralph Research Meteorologist, Director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E)
F. Martin Ralph is a research meteorologist focused on understanding the processes that create extremes in precipitation.
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David Victor Professor of International Relations; Co-director, Laboratory on International Law and Regulation
David Victor's research focuses on highly regulated industries and how regulation affects the operation of major energy markets.