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 (WPI) in Massachusetts, United States.^[1][2]

Albert Simeoni
Nationality	French
Alma mater	University of Corsica (BSc 1994; PhD 2000) Polytech Marseille (MEng 1996)
Known for	Experimental and numerical modelling of wildland and wildland-urban-interface fires
Awards	Arthur B. Guise Medal (2022)
Scientific career
Fields	Fire safety science; wildland-fire dynamics
Institutions	University of Corsica (2000–2013) University of Edinburgh (2013–2015) Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2017–present)

Early life and education

Simeoni read physics at the University of Corsica, graduating with a Licence (BSc) in 1994.^[1] He completed an MEng in thermal transfers at Polytech Marseille in 1996 before returning to Corsica for doctoral work. His PhD thesis (2000) developed multiphase models to improve predictions of forest-fire spread.^[3]

Career

After earning his doctorate, Simeoni was appointed maître de conférences (assistant professor) at the University of Corsica, where he led a CNRS-affiliated research group on forest-fire modelling.^[4]

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.^[5][6] Simeoni joined WPI in 2017 and became department head the same year.^[1] Beyond the university sector he serves as Treasurer (board member since 2014) of the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF).^[7]

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.^[8]

Honours

• Arthur B. Guise Medal of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (2022), recognising his “eminent achievement in connecting wildland-fire science with fire-protection practice”.^[9]

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 (3): 171–184 (2006).^[10]
• 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 (2017).^[11]
• Mueller, E.; Mell, W.; Simeoni, A. “Large-eddy simulation of forest-canopy flow for wildland-fire modelling”, Canadian Journal of Forest Research 44 (12): 1534–1544 (2014).^[12]