College of Science

Vincent Ambrosia, Senior Research Scientist and Adjunct Faculty member within the School of Natural Sciences (SNS), recently served as an expert panelist on the California Council on Science and Technology's (CCST) Emerging Technologies for Real-time Response to Wildfires panel. Vince is a Senior Research Scientist within the CSUMB Cooperative Agreement at NASA-Ames Research Center entitled the Ames Research Center - Cooperative Research in Earth Science and Technology (ARC-CREST) with Adjunct Faculty members co-located at Moffett Field, California.

In addition to his role at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB), Vince currently serves as the NASA Applied Science Associate Program Manager for Wildfire at NASA headquarters. In this position, he is primarily responsible for managing a portfolio of projects regarding Earth Observations in support of wildland fire management. He also co-chairs the NASA/United States Forest Service (USFS) Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee, a position he has held since 2003.

As a well-versed expert on satellite and airborne monitoring of wildfires, Vince provided insight on how NASA technology is currently being utilized to forecast the spread of wildfires. In addition to wildfire area, NASA is also working to evaluate the dispersion of pollutants in wildfire plumes - both around natural wildfire events and downwind. Collectively, the panelists discussed how their agencies are working to provide emergency responders with real-time data on wildfire events.

The CCST is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that was established by California State Legislature in 1988 to supply public policy representatives with unbiased advice from leading scientists and research institutions in the state. The Emerging Technologies for Real-time Response to Wildfires panel was apart of CCST's Science & Technology Week, which took place between February 4th and 7th at the California State Capitol.