Principal Investigator

Director headshot

Dr. Ali Tohidi is a fire and fluid dynamicist serving as an Assistant Professor of Fire Protection Engineering and a Co-PI of the NSF-IUCRC Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC). Dr. Tohidi obtained his M.Sc. degree from the Sharif University of Technology, where he worked on the effects of wind-induced surface cooling on water circulation and transport in aquatic canopies. He then received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Clemson University, where he studied wildfire spread mechanisms. Later, he held a Postdoctoral Scholar position in Fire Protection Engineering Department at the University of Maryland, College Park. He worked on the combustion-induced thermo-mechanical failure of cellular solids and dynamics of fire whirls, an extreme fire behavior. Dr. Tohidi’s research and development interests converge at the nexus of experimental, data-driven, and mathematical modeling of complex thermo-fluids systems across various spatial and temporal scales. His current efforts focus on understanding the physics of wildfire behavior and developing new tools to describe wildfire dynamics and impacts throughout the landscape.

  • Ali Tohidi, Ph.D.,
  • Assistant Professor,
  • Department of Fire Protection Engineering,
  • University of Maryland College Park
  • NSF-IUCRC Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC)
  • Building: JM Patterson Building

Group Members

Postdocs

  • Dr. Almoutazbellah KutKut

Graduate Students

  • Arithra Prithu
  • Adam Brodsky

Alumni