As wildfire season continues across the country, the National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Idaho a $1.4 million grant for fire research.
Nine new doctoral fellowship positions will be created in the College of Natural Resources. They will study wildfire behavior and prevention, and forest regeneration.
Jessica Miesel is an Associate Professor of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences. She said an interdisciplinary approach to fire research is important.
“Wildland fire is inherently complex. It can have catastrophic impacts on human communities, yet it is also an essential natural disturbance in many types of ecosystems,” said Miesel.
Participants can earn their doctorates in one of three programs: bioinformatics and computational biology, environmental science or water resources.
Earlier this year, the White House froze all National Science Foundation funding. Since then, its website says investments are being made in new initiatives to “strengthen our domestic workforce to fuel economic prosperity, national security, and global science and engineering competitiveness.”
