Albert Simeoni

Albert Simeoni is a French fire-safety engineer and academic whose research explores the behaviour of wildland and wildland–urban interface fires. He is professor and head of the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, United States.

Early life and education

Simeoni read physics at the University of Corsica, graduating with a Licence in 1994. He completed an MEng in thermal transfers at Polytech Marseille in 1996 before returning to Corsica for doctoral work. His PhD thesis developed multiphase models to improve predictions of forest-fire spread.

Career

After earning his doctorate, Simeoni was appointed maître de conférences at the University of Corsica, where he led a CNRS-affiliated research group on forest-fire modelling.
In 2013, he moved to the United Kingdom to take up the BRE Chair of Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, a post he held until 2015. Simeoni joined WPI in 2017 and became department head the same year. Beyond the university sector, he serves as treasurer of the International Association of Wildland Fire.
Simeoni’s work combines laboratory and field experiments with computational fluid-dynamics models to examine flame spread, firebrand generation and coupled fire–atmosphere interactions. His recent projects include establishing a National Science Foundation Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at WPI, and developing physics-based tools for assessing extreme fire behaviour.

Honours

Arthur B. Guise Medal of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, recognising his "eminent achievement in connecting wildland-fire science with fire-protection practice"

Selected publications

Santoni, P.A.; Simeoni, A.; et al. “Instrumentation of wildland fire: characterisation of a fire spreading through a Mediterranean shrub”, Fire Safety Journal 41 : 171–184.
Thomas, J.C.; Simeoni, A.; et al. “Investigation of firebrand generation from an experimental fire: development of a reliable data-collection methodology”, Fire Safety Journal 91 : 864–871.
Mueller, E.; Mell, W.; Simeoni, A. “Large-eddy simulation of forest-canopy flow for wildland-fire modelling”, Canadian Journal of Forest Research 44 : 1534–1544.