Ajinkya Desai

Degree: Ph.D. from University of California-Irvine
Research: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Joined LLNL: October 2025

Research at LLNL: Ajinkya’s research focuses on fire behavior and smoke plume dispersion in flat as well as complex terrain, both with and without forest cover. His aim is to characterize the complex, turbulent flow patterns germinating from the interaction of a fire with the surrounding atmosphere, influenced by terrain and vegetation features, for insights into drivers of erratic fire behavior. At LLNL, he is primarily focused on field experiments, designed and implemented in collaboration with local Prescribed Burn Associations, US Forest Service stations, and universities. Moreover, he is also interested in exploring the utility of experimental data in fire model development at LLNL and simulating underexplored fire behavior using existing models for improved physical underpinnings. Insights will aid in the development of more reliable fire-behavior models for the efficient planning of prescribed burns and allocation of response resources for active fire events and smoke hazards.

Bio: Ajinkya Desai is a Lawrence Fellow in the Atmospheric, Earth and Energy Division of the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate. He earned a B.Tech. (2013) in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, an M.S. (2015) in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California-San Diego, and a Ph.D. (2025) in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California-Irvine. His Ph.D. research involved the analysis of multi-scale experimental burn data using advanced mathematical techniques and the computational modeling of tall-canopy-plume interactions in flat terrain. He also received an M.F.A. (2017) in Theater and Dramatic Arts from The Old Globe/University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program.