Rockefeller students compete in NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition

By Indiana Nash  

ALBANY, N.Y. (April 14, 2026) — The emails were coming in fast and furious during the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA)’s Wildfire Mitigation Simulation Competition.  

Some were from constituents praising the policy decisions of Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy students. Others reprimanded them.  

“I was like, ‘This is stressful!’” said Mariam Al-Jabi-Lopez, a master’s of public affairs student at Rockefeller, who competed in the virtual competition. 

Held over the course of two days in March, the NASPAA Simulation Competition brought together master’s-level public service students from across the country. Separated into teams of five, students had to work through a simulation of a wildfire, write a professional policy memo and present their findings to a panel of judges. Students were assigned roles on each team, including mayor, water authority manager, environmental organization representative, federal forest service ranger and community representative, with separate objectives and intel. Five Rockefeller students participated, mostly on different teams. 

Silvia Yamilet Avila Licona, an MPA student who also works in the New York State Senate, opted into the competition because she wanted to put into practice some of the skills she garnered in the classrooms at Rockefeller.   

“It was about practicing and developing public administration skills because I don't have experience with environmental issues in any sense, but if you are in public administration, you are going to have to interact with all different issues,” she said.  

Eric Kukenberger, a fellow MPA student who works in the New York State Education Department, had a leg up on the competition. While earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Rochester, he took an environmental politics class where he wrote a paper about wildfire policy.  

“In the process of writing that paper, I learned a lot. I'm not in emergency management, but I just thought this would give me another chance to learn more about wildfire mitigation policy because I think it's really interesting,” Kukenberger said.   

The simulation played out on a virtual map, designed by Professor Matt Koschmann of the University of Colorado Boulder and built by the tech company Forio. 

“There were marked areas in a set area of land, and we had to decide what kind of fire protection  — if we used one  — we would install in that area,” Al-Jabi-Lopez said.  

“It was like you were painting a map with different wildfire mitigation techniques and how well you did was based on whether you used a certain mitigation type in a certain area,” Kukenberger said. 

On his team, which also included Rockefeller MPA student Carin McElhone, he had the role of mayor. McElhone was the park ranger. It put them at odds in terms of their objectives.  

“The main goal of the park ranger was pretty much to get everyone else to agree with you and burn. And then there was this festival that was a big deal, and the town didn't want you to do any burning during the festival, and I was getting emails that were like, ‘Who cares about this little town?’” McElhone said.  

“I was on the flip side of that in our group, because I was the mayor, so I was the most concerned about this festival,” Kukenberger said. 

To further complicate things, students received news and updates via email with conflicting information throughout the competition. 

“We had to deal with new messages in real time and adjust our plan as needed in real time. It was really complex to adjust our opinions,” said Seunghwan Shin, a Rockefeller MPA student who also competed. 

That kind of challenge was exactly what Shin was hoping the competition would bring.  

“I was an undergraduate student in Korea, and I worked as an intern at the National Assembly, and at the time, I mostly did data analysis and I did not really have a chance to contribute directly to making policies,” Shin said. “I wanted to experience the process more directly.” 

The students had to take into account not only their own constituents but also other various constituents involved. 

“I thought it was interesting there was the aspect of equity because there were two different main groups of people. You had to think about how whichever mitigation strategies you would use would impact each neighborhood,” Al-Jabi-Lopez said.  

Despite the challenges, each team worked cohesively.  

“Our team was a lot of fun. There wasn't a whole lot of arguing or having to debate. We all worked together,” McElhone said. 

“We were just working together to come up with the ideal policy, which is how you might hope government would work. I don't think it always works like that in practice,” Kukenberger said. 

Each Rockefeller student came away from the competition with a more nuanced view of policymaking.  

“It gave me a chance to practice something that felt much closer to the real policymaking than normal class discussion,” Shin said, adding, “I also learned that compromise is not weakness and, in many cases, compromise is actually the only way to move forward and create something realistic that can work in practice.” 

This cohort’s advice for next year’s competitors? 

• Take advantage of the networking opportunity. “As graduate students, it’s really important to create these connections,” Avila Licona said. 
• “Be ready to think quickly on your feet. And be very flexible in what you're trying to do,” Al-Jabi-Lopez said. 
• “Don't worry about not having a lot of experience or being afraid you won't know what to do,” McElhone said. 
• “I hope the students do not feel too much pressure about the competition. I think the experience itself is already meaningful, and there is a lot to learn from the process,” Shin said.   
• “You don't need to go into it knowing everything about wildfires. You're learning in the moment,” Kukenberger said.