By: Jakob D. Jensen, Senior Associate Vice President for Research

Earlier this summer, many members of our university community looked east toward the foothills and saw something unsettling: smoke rising above Red Butte Canyon.

The Bonneville Fire, burning just beyond the University of Utah campus, prompted emergency response efforts, evacuation readiness notices, and a renewed awareness of how closely our community lives alongside the landscapes that define Utah. While firefighters worked to protect lives and property, the event also served as a reminder of a broader reality: wildfire is no longer an occasional challenge. It is becoming an increasingly significant part of life across the American West.

For more than a century, the University of Utah has occupied a unique place at the base of the Wasatch Mountains. Our campus exists where urban development meets wildland ecosystems. That geography has long offered extraordinary opportunities for research and discovery. Today, it also places us at the center of one of the most pressing environmental and societal challenges of our time.

Fortunately, wildfire is not simply something we experience. It is something we study.

Wildfire research has emerged as one of the University of Utah’s distinctive research strengths. Researchers across multiple colleges and disciplines are advancing our understanding of fire behavior, smoke transport, public health impacts, ecosystem resilience, emergency management, atmospheric science, artificial intelligence, and community preparedness. Together, they are helping communities better understand, prepare for, and respond to a future in which wildfire will remain a defining challenge of the American West.

This work is increasingly coordinated through the University’s Wildfire Research Working Group, which brings together faculty from across campus to foster collaboration, identify emerging opportunities, and accelerate research that can improve wildfire resilience. The group reflects a simple reality: wildfire is not a challenge that can be solved by any single discipline. It requires expertise that spans the natural sciences, engineering, social science, humanities, public health, and public policy.

Below are just a few of the researchers helping to establish the University of Utah as a leader in wildfire science and resilience.

Philip Dennison: Understanding Fire on the Landscape

Professor Philip Dennison, director of the School of Environment, Society, and Sustainability, studies wildfire behavior, ecosystem impacts, and firefighter safety. Using advanced remote sensing technologies — including satellites, aircraft, lidar, and imaging spectroscopy — his research helps scientists and emergency managers better understand how fires spread across landscapes and how environmental conditions influence wildfire risk.

Dennison’s work exemplifies the University’s ability to connect cutting-edge technology with real-world challenges. By improving our understanding of fire behavior, his research contributes to safer firefighting operations, more effective land management strategies, and better preparation for future wildfire seasons.

John Horel: Forecasting Conditions Before Fires Ignite

Long before smoke appears on the horizon, atmospheric conditions often determine whether a wildfire will remain manageable or become catastrophic.

Professor John Horel, in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, has spent decades developing weather and forecasting systems that help fire managers assess risk and anticipate dangerous conditions. His contributions to fire-weather forecasting have informed operational tools used by fire professionals throughout North America.

Research like Horel’s reminds us that resilience often begins long before an emergency. It begins with knowledge.

Heather Holmes: Protecting Public Health

For many Utahns, wildfire’s most immediate impact is not fire itself — it is smoke.

In the Department of Chemical Engineering, Professor Heather Holmes studies air quality, atmospheric chemistry, and the health consequences of pollution exposure. Her work helps researchers and public officials better understand how wildfire smoke travels across landscapes, how it affects communities far from the original fire, and how improved forecasting can help people make informed decisions about their health.

As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense, understanding smoke exposure is becoming increasingly important for protecting public health throughout the West.

Gannet Hallar: Following Smoke Across the Atmosphere

Wildfire smoke does not respect state boundaries or mountain ranges.

Professor Gannet Hallar, in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, studies atmospheric aerosols, air quality, and climate interactions, examining how smoke and other airborne particles move through the atmosphere. Her research helps scientists understand how wildfire emissions influence air quality over vast geographic regions and how atmospheric conditions shape smoke transport.

This work provides critical insights into the broader environmental consequences of wildfire and helps improve our ability to monitor and forecast smoke events.

John Lin: Building the Next Generation of Wildfire Intelligence

Emerging technologies are transforming how we understand environmental hazards.

Professor John Lin, scientific director for the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy, combines atmospheric science, data analytics, and artificial intelligence to improve environmental forecasting and decision-making. Through projects supported by the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, Lin and his collaborators are developing AI-enabled tools that can improve smoke forecasts and provide communities with earlier and more actionable information.

His work demonstrates how advances in computing and artificial intelligence can strengthen society’s ability to anticipate and respond to wildfire threats.

Tom Cova: Understanding Communities Under Pressure

Wildfires are ultimately human events.

Their consequences are measured not only in acres burned but also in disrupted lives, threatened homes, and community decisions made under extraordinary circumstances.

Professor Tom Cova, a professor in the School of Environment, Society, and Sustainability, is internationally recognized for his research on evacuation planning, emergency management, and community resilience. His work examines how communities prepare for and respond to wildfire threats, helping emergency managers develop strategies that improve safety and decision-making.

As more communities expand into fire-prone landscapes, this research is becoming increasingly important.

Andrea Brunelle: Learning from Fire’s Long History

While many wildfire researchers focus on today’s fires, Professor Andrea Brunelle, director of the Records of Environment and Disturbance Lab, examines fire across centuries and even millennia.

A paleoecologist and environmental scientist, Brunelle studies how ecosystems have responded to fire and climate variability over long periods of time. By examining environmental records preserved in landscapes and sediments, she helps researchers understand how fire regimes have changed and how ecosystems have adapted.

Her work provides a valuable reminder that understanding the future often requires understanding the past.

A University-Wide Strength

Taken together, these researchers illustrate something remarkable about wildfire research at the University of Utah. No single discipline can fully explain wildfire. Understanding this challenge requires expertise across a wide range of areas including atmospheric science, engineering, environmental science, ecology, public health, emergency management, artificial intelligence, and human behavior.

The University of Utah has built a research community capable of addressing those questions together.

The Bonneville Fire reminded us how quickly wildfire can become personal. It also highlighted something less visible but equally important: the research taking place on our campus every day to help communities better understand, prepare for, and adapt to a changing world.

When society faces complex challenges, research matters.

And sometimes, the value of that research becomes visible right in our own backyard.

Faculty interested in participating in the Wildfire Research Working Group are encouraged to contact Natalie McElroy at natalie.mcelroy@utah.edu.