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Members of the University community work to mitigate wildfire risk The 2020 wildfire season was one of the most devastating on record for California and the U.S. as a whole, based on data from the National Interagency Fire Center. By the end of November 2020, there had been more than 50,000 wildfires that burned more than 8 million acres, with nearly half that acreage burning in California. The West was most significantly impacted by these fires, and people from Washington to

Honoring faculty through awards and fellowships Vice President for Research and Innovation, Mridul Gautam, celebrates the 2024 research award recipients. The annual Research & Innovation Awards Reception was held in the Great Room of the Joe Crowley Student Union May 15, 2024. Research & Innovation recognizes faculty and rewards creativity, productivity and innovative research endeavors. "I would like to thank you all for what you do for the University of Nevada and beyond,"

Smoke from the Lava Fire behind Castle Lake in 2021. (Credit: Erin Suenaga) Wildfires have been big news the last couple of years. Australia’s wildfires in 2019 and 2020 and the Amazon rainforest fires in 2021 made headlines around the world. The American west has had record-breaking burns in recent years, blanketing cities in dangerous amounts of smoke and sending haze across the continent to the east coast. While smoke has clear and apparent effects on the sky, new research

The 2014 King Fire burned for six weeks and came within 10 miles of Lake Tahoe. The plume of smoke produced as it burned 97,000 acres of National Forest and private lands traveled into nearby states. The wildfire season has arrived in North America, and recent research highlights that the impacts of wildfire smoke emissions can alter aquatic ecosystems far away from the sources of the fire. In the summer of 2018, intense smoke from six major wildfires covered Castle Lake, wes

Scientific Reports We've already had a few air quality alerts this summer, and more are bound to come along, as smoke from wildfires fills the air. People and other creatures suffer when the smoke gets thick, but the effects are not limited to air-breathers. Researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno looked into the effects of smoke on lakes and found some significant changes spurred by smoke. The lake in question is Castle Lake, a mountain lake southwest of Mount Shasta. W

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - The Caldor Fire slipped by the southern end of the Tahoe Basin, largely missing the neighborhoods there, but it also filled the Basin with smoke for weeks. Then the ash from more distant fires took its place. The skies will clear eventually, but the ash will remain, much of it in the water. Just what that will mean for Tahoe and other alpine lakes in the west isn’t known, but scientists, including a team from UNR are working to find out. They have an idea

99% of lakes were impacted by wildfire smoke for at least one day each year between 2019-2021, 89% saw 30 days or more of smoke Wildfire smoke from the Caldor Fire over Lake Tahoe When wildfires burn near a lake, the impact is inevitable. Fire debris and ash could be seen falling into Lake Tahoe during the Caldor Fire burning just a few miles from the South Shore in 2021, for example. However, research published in the June 2024 issue of Global Change Biology shows that 99.3%

The seven-member team include scholars seeking to develop a digital platform to study various aspects of wildfires, including pre-ignition factors and post-ignition factors, to gain actionable intelligence for communities. TNS A team of scientists and researchers is embarking on a five-year study program to develop actionable strategies for dealing with wildfires — both pre-ignition and post-ignition — and is looking for first responders, land managers and others with knowled

Students, faculty recognized this spring Graduation ceremonies were conducted on the quad on campus. The College of Engineering conferred 402 academic degrees on May 17 and celebrates a host of awards received by faculty and students this spring. Engineering Acting Dean Indira Chatterjee handed out 338 bachelor’s degrees, 44 master’s degrees and 20 doctoral degrees at the commencement ceremony on the University of Nevada, Reno campus. The college also honors its many outstand

The behavior of massive wildland fires is incredibly complex, but as the western U.S. experiences these events with increasing frequency, the need to better understand those systems has become crucial. Civil & Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Hamed Ebrahimian is pioneering new scientific computation techniques to enhance prediction, decision-making and safety in critical areas such as earthquake engineering and wildfire prediction. With support from the National

According to laboratory models, the wildfire was actually fueled by the same meteorological phenomenon responsible for California 's most...

Professor Ebrahimian and Professor Lareau are teaming with researchers at the University of Hawai'I and University of Buffalo to gather data and figure how to be two steps ahead of future wildfires. Local university faculty members will be studying the devastating Lahaina wildfire in Maui. Two assistant professors with the University of Nevada, Reno are working on preventing similar disasters. Professor Ebrahimian and Professor Lareau are teaming with researchers at the Unive

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - A new wildfire research will begin at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) after the tragedy caused by the Camp Fire in 2018. UNR officials say engineers and scientists are coming together in a new five-year project to develop a comprehensive, holistic, computational live, digital platform to predict and monitor wildfire risk that first responders and utility companies to plan for and use during a wildfire. The hope is to understand fire risk by using scie

Hamed Ebrahimian was moved by the Camp Fire tragedy to figure out a better way to deliver fire risk and save lives. RENO, Nev. — The Camp Fire in 2018 showed how a growing number of people living in Northern California are becoming familiar to the loss of life and property. Even with improving technology, fires are spreading so quickly that, sometimes, there is little time to warn people for evacuations or to fully understand the impacts of fire. The Camp Fire moved Hamed Ebr

NASA satellite imagery shows the immensity of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California. Photo: NASA Moved by the tragedy of the 2018 Camp Fire, a team of engineers and scientists are coming together in a new five-year project to develop a comprehensive, holistic, computational live, digital platform to predict and monitor wildfire risk that can be used by wildfire managers, emergency responders and utility companies to plan for, respond to and remediate wildfires. With a bac