Lyla Dong | Student Spotlight

Lyla Dong

PhD Candidate
Materials Science and Engineering

"Wildfires are one of the most urgent crises threatening homes and communities. I aim to tackle this challenge using what we do best at Stanford."

Pushing the boundaries of interdisciplinary research means identifying the questions that truly motivate me and solving them with every tool available

At Stanford, my research focuses on engineering materials that stop catastrophic wildfires before they start. By developing safer strategies and greener fire retardants for prescribed burns, we can shift wildfire management from reactive suppression to proactive prevention.

I design sustainable polymer–based fire retardants that transform under extreme heat, forming protective barriers for wildlands and critical infrastructure. My work integrates materials characterization, combustion science, fire ecology, and AI-powered 3D imaging to understand how these systems perform under real fire conditions. This effort is deeply interdisciplinary, uniting Stanford wildfire researchers across Materials Science and Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering, and Earth System Science.

I am grateful for the collaborative and resource-rich Stanford community that makes this work possible. I’m excited to continue building partnerships that translate wildfire materials technology from the lab bench to real-world deployment, where it can meaningfully protect communities and ecosystems at scale.