From San Jose State to PG&E, a Partnership Powering Wildfire Science

When Scott Strenfel recently visited San Jose State University, the memories came easily. The classrooms. The research lab. The people who gave him his start.

Strenfel is now PG&E's senior director of Meteorology and Wildfire Science. He returned to his alma mater to receive San Jose State's award for Outstanding Recent Graduate. The honor also recognized a partnership that has shaped wildfire science at PG&E.

San Jose State gives this award to alumni within 15 years of graduation who have made strong professional contributions. For Strenfel, it arrived in his last year of eligibility. Even 15 years later, he's still on their radar.

Building the Foundation

As a student at SJSU, Strenfel studied under Dr. Craig Clements in the Fire Weather Research Lab. Clements has introduced a generation of students and professionals to fire weather phenomenon. He also founded the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. The center brings together universities and collaborators from around the world. Its mission is to conduct research that helps manage more frequent and intense wildfires — a goal that aligns with PG&E's stand that Catastrophic Wildfires Shall Stop.

Clements nominated Strenfel for the award. It was a full-circle moment for a former student who's now become one of his closest partners. The nomination noted that Strenfel was one of Clements' first fire-weather students. It also highlighted how he helped build one of the most advanced utility forecasting systems, which is now used as a model for utilities worldwide.

During the ceremony, Dean Michael Kaufman reflected on how Strenfel's career embodies the university's mission. That mission is to inspire and educate the next generation of scientists through hands-on learning and scientific discovery.

"Scott is a shining example of how that mission comes to fruition," Kaufman said. "From his time as a student here to the work he leads today helping communities stay safe."

Today, those early mentors remain key partners. PG&E works with Clements and his team at the center to connect graduate students to research with real-world impacts.

Turning research into real-world readiness

PG&E is an active partner at the San Jose State center, where students and researchers work side by side with industry professionals to tackle tough problems. Strenfel now serves as chair of the center's Industry Advisory Board. The board helps guide research supported by utilities, insurance companies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Cal Fire, nonprofits and private companies.

Through this partnership, PG&E shares insights and data with students. This helps train the next generation to tackle wildfire risk.

Take Alana Macken. She interned with PG&E while studying Diablo winds through the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. That research and experience opened doors. Macken recently joined San Diego Gas & Electric as a wildfire scientist. She's part of a growing network of SJSU-PG&E-trained experts now working across California's utilities.

It's a loop that keeps strengthening:

•  Academic research trains students.
• Students inform forecasting.
• Forecasting sparks new research.

The partnership continues to generate new insights. In recent years, PG&E and WIRC researchers have co-published studies. They've looked at how climate warming increases wildfire risk in California. They've studied how fuel reduction efforts can help lower that risk. They've explored how machine-learning models can improve wildfire forecasting. One key finding was the link between fires and soil moisture. This factor is now built into PG&E's Fire Potential Index.

A team built on shared roots

Strenfel's journey is one thread in a much larger story. It's one shared by many of the meteorologists who guide PG&E's wildfire efforts today.

Walk into PG&E's meteorology lab, and you'll find a team that looks a lot like a San Jose State reunion. Shaun Tanner, Richard Bagley, Neil Flaiz, A.J. Eiserloh and Bereket Habtezion all earned meteorology degrees from San Jose State. School projects became real life. They studied extreme weather at San Jose State. Now they forecast those same conditions to keep California communities safe from wildfire.

Some of the alums even overlapped at SJSU before joining PG&E. They built a sense of community that's carried into their work today — and in some cases, into their families, with a few meeting their spouses in the university's meteorology department.

Full circle — and the work continues

Standing outside the San Jose State center, Strenfel reflected on how far the partnership has come and the community it's helped build.

"It's incredible to see how the work that started here has evolved," he said. "We're still working together, still learning, just now at a much bigger scale."

What began as academic research has become a shared effort to better understand fire weather and help protect California communities.

The partnership continues — researching, learning and training the next generation of wildfire scientists.

(Pictured from left, San Jose State alums Neil Flaiz, A.J. Eiserloh, Richard Bagley, Scott Strenfel and Shaun Tanner. )