Cobian-Iñiguez Fire Laboratory
Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez
Assistant Professor
Principal Investigator
Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. Prior to her current position, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley working on smoldering fire behavior of simulated wildland fuels. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside. Jeanette’s focus areas are fire behavior and heat transfer and fluid dynamics of environmental phenomena. She holds as B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC San Diego and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Los Angeles. Her new research group at UC Merced examines fundamental wildfire behavior, fire dynamics, and environmental flows. Jeanette is originally from the San Diego-Tijuana region and is proudly bilingual (English & Spanish).
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Shusmita Saha
Graduate Student Researcher
Shusmita Saha is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. She achieved her B.Sc. (ME) from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh in 2014. She joined Prof. Cobian-Iñiguez's group at UC Merced in 2020. Her research focuses on wildfire dynamics with the goal to study wildland fire behavior from laboratory to regional scale. Her present research approach is to investigate the influences of different parameters on ignition behavior on different wildland fuels.
Joseph Avalos
Graduate Student Researcher
Joseph Avalos is a 2nd-year Graduate student pursuing his Masters's degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. He completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. He is currently working on a collaborative project determining the ignition properties of a material being developed, as well as focusing his thesis on developing a cone calorimeter. Joseph is originally from San Bernardino County.
Ehsan Ameri
Graduate Student Researcher
Ehsan Ameri Ehsan Ameri is a graduate research assistant at Cobian-Iñiguez Fire Laboratory lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. Now, he is working on the wildfire spread in a subsonic wind tunnel under supervision of Dr. Cobian-Iñiguez. Prior to this position, he was a research assistant at the Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnique) working on a cascade wind tunnel and his M.Sc. thesis was about Design and construction of a system to prevent growth of boundary layer in a linear cascade test cell. Ehsan’s focus areas are fire spread behavior, heat transfer, Aerodynamics and Turbomachinery. He got his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) and his M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT). Ehsan was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Tehran, Iran and he speaks in both Persian & English languages.
Kyle Awayan
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Kyel Awayan is a student majoring in Computer Science at the University of California, Merced. He has an interest in app development and data science. Aside from technology, he also likes taking photos and creating videos. By using these skills, Kyle hopes to help accelerate research by using creative digital image processing techniques.
Clarissa Duran
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Clarissa Duran is a 4th year Mechanical Engineering major with a minor in Materials Science and Engineering. She was born and raised in Ventura County, where she first became interested in engineering concepts and decided to pursue it in college. She is relatively new to Professor Cobian's lab but is excited to further her skills and learn more about the behavior of wildfire spread. So far, she has assisted graduate student, Ehsan Ameri, with modifying a wind tunnel CAD model that will be used for testing in the fire laboratory, as well as preforming experiments to measure the rate of spread of fire.
Ruth Agorrilla
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Ruth Agorrilla is currently a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student at the University of California, Merced. Previously, she worked at the California Water Boards (Region 7) as an intern, assisting the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) unit chief in the data analysis and organization of wastewater projects based in the southeastern portion of California. She joined Dr. Cobian-Iñiguez's research group in 2022 and has a research emphasis on environmental flows. Her current research focuses on how particulate matter affects air quality based on multiple factors within a given area. Ruth hails from San Diego County and is fluent in both Tagalog and English.
Jovannie Ruiz
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Jovannie Ruiz is a third-year undergraduate student, pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. He formerly attended Mesa Community College in San Diego, where he was born and raised. Jovannie is currently serving as an intern in a research laboratory, conducting experiments to study wildfire behavior. His aspiration is to pursue a career in Aerospace Engineering with an emphasis on flight mechanics and propulsion. When Jovannie is not busy with his classes, he enjoys reading science fiction, creating projects on Python, and cooking Korean food
Perla Mendoza
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Perla Mendoza is a 3rd-year undergraduate Mechanical Engineer student at the University of
California, Merced. Perla was born in San Jose, CA, and is pursuing her bachelor's of science
degree. She is currently interning in a research lab with Dr. Cobian-Iñiguez’s research group in
the Spring semester of 2022. She is currently an intern in a research lab that is experimenting on
wildfire behavior. Perla is working with graduate students and is focusing on the rate of fire
spread in pine straw. Her goal in the future is to go straight into the industry after completing her
bachelor’s of science degree in the Spring semester of 2023.
Jennifer Esmay
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Jennifer Esmay is an undergraduate at University of California, Merced pursuing a bachelors in mechanical engineering. Previously they have interned with Lockheed Martin as a part of the Commercial Space group working on the GPS III satellite constellation. Their role in the fire behavior lab is as an assistant to Joseph Avalos, assisting in flammability testing on building materials. Jennifer hopes to learn more about the research process during their time with this group and pursue a further Phd in aerospace engineering.
Steve Lee
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Steve Lee is a third-year undergraduate student pursing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Merced. He is currently serving as an intern for Dr. Cobian-Iñiguez's research on examining the fundamentals of wildfire behavior, fire dynamics, and environmental flows. His emphasis is to research the ignition properties and flammability of wood materials developed from a lab. With the experience his has gained, he intends to apply the fundamentals and methodologies of research into his future career. His goal in the future is to work for the Environmental Protection Agency as an environmental engineer. Steve is originally from Merced County and is bilingual in both Hmong and English.
Diana Sepulveda
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Diana Sepulveda Diana Sepulveda is an undergraduate transfer student pursuing a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. She formerly attended Ventura Community College in Ventura, CA and interned with Naval Sea Systems Command as a part of the Hardware Design Engineering group. She joined Dr. Cobian-Iñiguez's research group in 2022 with a focus on improving the wind tunnel CAD model and is now working to measure wildfire rate of spread. Their future aspirations include enrolling in law school in an effort to become an intellectual property lawyer and travel to new countries. During her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dog, Koa, and working on new personal 3D modeling projects.
Jazmin Claros
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Jazmin Claros is an undergraduate at the University of California, Merced pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Economics. She is from Palmdale, California and attended Knight High School where she was in the Digital Design and Engineering Academy. Once she graduates from UC Merced, she plans on working at Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman and eventually becoming a licensed professional engineer.
LAB ALUMNI
Arturo Juarez
UC Merced Mechanical Engineering B.S.
Class of 2021
Arturo Juarez is a mechanical engineer graduate of the UC Merced Mechanical Engineering B.S Program. Arturo worked as an undergraduate student researcher in the Cobian-Iñiguez lab prior to receiving his degree. Prior to his work with the lab, Arturo was the junior project lead at Farm Egg Packaging in Wasco, CA. He assisted the Mechanic Supervisor on company-based projects. During the summer of 2021, Arturo joined as a Volunteer Student Researcher. During his time, Arturo assisted in fire ignition experiments. As well as being in charge of the data processing, and modeling fire-based simulations. Since some of the material is still new to the lab, he assisted by providing Tutorial Workshops to the team. Arturo is expected to graduate this 2021 Fall Semester with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering. At the moment, Arturo is planning to work in the industry but hopes to go back for a Master’s in the future.
Janet Suarez
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Janet Suarez is a first-year student at the University of California, Merced. She joined Dr. Cobian-Iñiguez's research group in the fall of 2022. Janet is majoring in public health and has an interest in environmental health and safety. Her research focuses on air quality data analysis, and she is originally from Sonoma County.
Kimberly Parra
UC Merced Mechanical Engineering B.S.
Class of 2021
Kimberly Parra is a mechanical engineer graduate of the UC Merced Mechanical Engineering B.S. Program. Kimberly worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Cobian-Iñiguez prior to receiving her degree. Prior to her work with our lab, Kimberly worked for the Water System Management laboratory with Dr. Medellin-Azuara. Kimberly joined the Cobian-Iñiguez Fire Laboratory in January 2022 and is currently working with purple air sensors to measure the air quality in Merced prior to the wildfire session.