Dr. Gonzalez-Pinzon awarded NSF grant for wildfire disturbances

July 28, 2021

photo of Ricardo Gonzalez-Pinzon
Dr. Gonzalez-Pinzon

Dr. Ricardo Gonzalez-Pinzon, Associate Professor in CCEE, who specializes in water resources, has been awarded an NSF grant of $423,431 to investigate how far downstream wildfire disturbances propagate in fluvial networks.

Devastating wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity across the Western and Southwestern United States. In addition to the dramatic impacts of wildfires on infrastructure, soils, and terrestrial ecosystems, there is growing evidence that wildfires trigger cascading disturbances that propagate across fluvial networks and watersheds impacting water quality and ecosystem services in aquatic environments.

However, there is a critical lack of data, modeling tools, and fundamental knowledge to assess the propagation of wildfire disturbances and the extent to which they affect water quality, ecosystem services, and biogeochemical processes.

The overarching goal of this research is to address these gaps in our fundamental understanding of the impact of wildfires. This project is estimated to last through July 2024.

This award is jointly funded by the Environmental Engineering and Environmental Sustainability programs of the NSF/ENG/CBET Division.