Fire Ecology and Management

The Fire Science Program at the University of Alberta is always interested in receiving applications from highly qualified students who wish to pursue programs leading towards M.F., M.Sc. or Ph.D. degrees in the areas of fire science and management. Application forms, scholarship information, and all additional information are available from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. Interested applicants should contact the researcher whose interest closely match theirs.

General

We believe the fire science program in this Department at this University is second to none. We have a large staff of fire and fire-related scientists within our Faculty. In addition, due to the size of the University of Alberta (29,000 undergraduates) there are many scientists and facilities in other Faculties and Departments on campus. Fire research is or has been conducted in the Departments of Anthropology; Biological Sciences; Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science; Rural Economy, and Business. The staff and facilities in these Departments greatly enhance the educational opportunities available to forest fire science majors at this University.

This University's library is the third largest in Canada, and it has an excellent collection of journals and governmental reports. We carry everything from "Forest Fire News" and "Fire Management Notes" to the "Journal of Fire and Flammability" to the most recent journal, the "International Journal of Wildland Fire".

Our data analysis and modeling capabilities are built around the most current technology in personal computers. The Department supports and maintains a large number of IBM compatible P.C., which are purchased by research supervisors and the Department. These resources are shared by all graduate students. These machines are located in "common rooms" adjacent to graduate student offices. We support such software as LOTUS, DBASE, SPSS, SAS WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, GIS, Energraphics and Sigmaplot at all work stations.

We have ample high quality research laboratory space for graduate students because we believe these students are an important part of our Department's research effort. In addition our students have access to one of the largest growth chamber facility in North America, as well as greenhouse space and University farm lands in close proximity to campus. Students have access to laboratories, which have equipment and personnel that facilitate combustion and heat transfer studies as well as nutrient studies.

Our Program has well established ties to government agencies with responsibilities in fire management. These include the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, which has its headquarters in Edmonton, the Canadian Forest Service, which has a research facility within 3 km of campus and most nearby National Parks of the Canadian Parks Service. Staff and students in our Program also work closely with instructors at the Enivironmental Training Centre (which was called the Forest Technology School) at Hinton and personnel in the Department of Renewable Resources, Government of the Northwest Territories. All agencies are supportive of our research efforts and have participated in joint projects. Staff members from these organizations have served on graduate student committees and have given many special lectures to classes. They are an important resource. The contributions of our valued Associates are extremely important in our goal to provide the highest quality of the educational experience possible in the area of forest fire management and science.

Our staff maintains international linkages with most active fire science programs in the world. As a result we have a large number of international students because of these contacts. Currently, we have graduate students from Europe, Asia and Africa and we have graduated sudents from such countries Sweden, Spain, Germany, United States, Thailand, China and England.

Courses taught in Fire Ecology