Purdue University announced on May 13 that it will lead a team of researchers in developing digital models to help address the threat of wildfires at the intersection of wildland and urban areas, supported by a nearly $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
The initiative aims to provide first responders, planners, and policymakers with advanced tools for preventing and mitigating wildfires. The research will focus on creating digital twins—virtual representations updated by geospatial data—to model fire spread and assess resilience based on recent catastrophic fires in Los Angeles (2025) and Gatlinburg, Tennessee (2016).
Ayman Habib, Thomas A. Page Professor of Civil Engineering at Purdue University, said, “In this project, we will demonstrate novel tools for the proactive and effective prevention and mitigation of wildfires at the wildland-urban interface.” Songlin Fei from Purdue added: “As virtual representations of physical objects or systems, digital twins can be continuously updated using geospatial and contextual data from various sensors and other sources. We plan to devise a framework for generating digital twins that process the various types of available geospatial data needed for wildfire studies.”
The collaboration includes researchers from Purdue University’s College of Agriculture—a core academic unit within Purdue University according to the official website—as well as partners from the University at Buffalo and UCLA. The team brings expertise in forest inventory fuel characterization, wildfire risk assessment using geospatial data, 3D modeling of urban environments, fire spread simulation models integrating both natural vegetation and built structures as fuel categories.
To ensure practical relevance, researchers will work closely with stakeholders such as city officials in Los Angeles and fire ecologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They plan regular meetings with community representatives from both case-study regions to present findings and gather feedback on model development.
Beyond research activities, educational modules related to wildfire management will be offered through university courses and professional development programs. Computer science advances are central to these efforts as part of Purdue Computes—a broader initiative encompassing computing departments across disciplines.
Broader implications include improved planning capabilities for communities facing increasing wildfire risks due to climate change-induced droughts or extreme weather events. As more detailed real-world information becomes available through sensors or remote sensing technologies—and is incorporated into these new models—the hope is that future disasters may be better anticipated or mitigated.
