{"podcast":{"title":"The Academic Minute","slug":"the-academic-minute-1102038","podcast_index_feed_id":1102038,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/7972926.rss","website_url":"https://www.academicminute.org/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/7972926/3de65ac4cfe10a333128ea1e717f3fde.jpg","author":"Academic Minute","episode_count":1000,"summary":"Astronomy to Zoology","last_synced_at":"2026-07-30T14:17:21.893800+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-academic-minute-1102038"},"episode":{"title":"Craig Clements, San Jose State University - Understanding the Science of Wildfires and Extreme Fire Behavior","slug":"craig-clements-san-jose-state-university-understanding-the-science-of-wildfires-and-extreme-fire-behavior","published_at":"2026-07-02T04:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-academic-minute-1102038/craig-clements-san-jose-state-university-understanding-the-science-of-wildfires-and-extreme-fire-behavior","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-academic-minute-1102038","url":"https://www.academicminute.org/p/craig-clements-san-jose-state-university","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/203556783/42428fc46ec0b12d521c47736b09fa22.mp3","summary":"We have much to learn about wildfires. Craig Clements , professor and chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University , uses a research lab on wheels to get close to the action. Faculty Bio: Craig Clements is a professor and chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San José State University, where he is director of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC) and director of the Fire Weather Lab. His research focuses on the micro-meteorology and behavior of wildland fires, mountain and boundary-layer meteorology, air pollution and turbulence.His research and teaching focus includes wildfire meteorology and fire weather, extreme fire behavior, mountain and boundary-layer meteorology, turbulence, and meteorological instrumentation. Transcripts: Californians are concerned about the growing threat of extreme wildfires, such as the recent Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires, that resulted in loss of life and extensive property damage. But residents of other states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas and parts of the Midwest and Southeast are now facing increased dangers from wildfires. My research seeks to improve accurate predictions in wildfire science, a field that wasn’t even on the map when we began our work well over a decade ago. Since then, we launched the mobile fire weather lab--which allows us to travel to the fires--similar to the ways scientists have studied hurricanes and tornadoes--learning about their formation and dynamics for better prediction models. We’re really the only team that’s done this for wildfires, which are significantly under-sampled compared to all other atmospheric phenomena. Our “research lab on wheels” consists of a pair of lifted pickup trucks, both four-wheel drive,…","meta_description":"We have much to learn about wildfires. Craig Clements , professor and chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State Univers…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":150,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-academic-minute-1102038/episodes/craig-clements-san-jose-state-university-understanding-the-science-of-wildfires-and-extreme-fire-behavior/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-academic-minute-1102038/craig-clements-san-jose-state-university-understanding-the-science-of-wildfires-and-extreme-fire-behavior.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}