TO MAKE PROGRESS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF COMPLEX PLASMA DYNAMICS IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE WE NEED TO COMBINE CLEAN OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS. WE PROPOSE TO EXTRACT A STATISTICAL SET OF IRIS OBSERVATIONS THAT PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE PROCESS OF RECONNECTION IN PARTIALLY IONIZED PLASMAS AND TO USE THE OBSERVATIONAL LIMITS TO CONSTRAIN HIGH-RESOLUTION MULTI-FLUID MODELS OF THIS PHENOMENA IN THE LOWER CHROMOSPHERE. IN ORDER TO PRODUCE MEANINGFUL CONSTRAINTS ON THE SIMULATION CONDITIONS WE SELECT IRIS UV BURST OBSERVATIONS USING CRITERIA THAT ENSURE THE RECONNECTION IS IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT HAS A LARGE NEUTRAL ATOM FRACTION. SINCE CONDITIONS IN THE CHROMOSPHERE VARY DRAMATICALLY OVER SHORT SPATIAL SCALES WE TAYLOR OUR INITIAL CONDITIONS TO MATCH CONDITIONS OF UV BURST FORMATION THROUGHOUT A LARGE RANGE OF ALTITUDES. THE VAST CATALOGUE OF IRIS UV BURST OBSERVATIONS ALSO PROVIDES A ROBUST SET OF PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS THAT CAN BE USED FOR TESTING OUR MODEL PREDICTIONS. THE RESULT OF THIS EFFORT WILL BE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS NEEDED TO PRODUCE UV BURSTS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF RECONNECTION IN PARTIALLY IONIZED PLASMAS AND INSIGHTS INTO THE ENERGY BUDGET OF THE LOW CHROMOSPHERE.