Florida State University researchers have received a $2.3 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop artificial intelligence tools that will help manage wildfires fueled by hurricanes in the Florida Panhandle.
The four-year project will be led by Yushun Dong, an assistant professor of computer science, and is the largest research award ever for FSU’s Department of Computer Science. Dong and his interdisciplinary team will focus on wildfires in the wildland-urban interface, where forests such as the Apalachicola National Forest meet homes, roads and other infrastructure.
Dong’s project, “FIRE: An Integrated AI System Tackling the Full Lifecycle of Wildfires in Hurricane-Prone Regions,” will bring together computer scientists, fire researchers, engineers and educators to study how hurricanes change wildfire behavior and to build AI systems that can forecast ignition, predict roadway disruptions, and assess potential damage.
“The modern practice of prescribed burns began over 60 years ago, which was a huge leap in working with nature to help manage an ecosystem,” said Dong, who joined FSU’s faculty last year and established the Responsible AI Lab at FSU after earning his doctorate from the University of Virginia. “Now, we’re positioned to make another leap: we’re able to use powerful AI technology to transform wildfire risk management with tools such as ignition forecasting, roadway disruption prediction, condition estimations, damage assessments and more.”
