Current Position

Biography

Degrees

• M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, 1991.
• M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA, 1995.
• Ph.D. in Energy Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, 1996. 

Work Experience

• 2021-current, Director, Aerospace Engineering Graduate School, TU Delft, The Netherlands.
• 2013-current, Full Professor, Propulsion and Power, TU Delft, The Netherlands.
• 2002-2013, Associate Professor, Renewable Energy Systems, TU Delft, The Netherlands.
• 2005-2006, Interim Head of the Energy Technology Section, TU Delft, The Netherlands.
• 1997-2002, Assistant Professor, Fluid Machinery, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
• 1996-2003, Founder and Partner of AustEx - Exergy Management s.r.l., Milano, Italy.
• 1995, Research Assistant, Engineering Thermodynamics, Stanford University, California.
• 1991-1996,  Energy Engineering consultant, Studio Tecnico SPELL, Milano, Italy.

Expertise

• Organic Rankine Cycle Power Systems
• Supercritical CO2 Cycle Power Systems
• Heat pumps
• Unconventional Turbomachinery

• Integrated process & components design optimization
• Automated turbomachinery fluid dynamic design
• (Dynamic) system modeling and simulation

• Non Ideal Compressible Fluid Dynamics (NICFD)
• Thermodynamic Properties of Pure Fluids and Mixtures

Awards

1995, Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship, Milano, Italy.
The grant funded the Master studies at Stanford University. Only two grants were awarded each year in Italy.

1996, Italian Ministry of the University and Scientific Research, post-doctoral fellowship, Milano, Italy. 

2004, NWO VIDI grant, personal grant from the Dutch Science Foundation for the project BZT Fluids for energy conversion applications.

2008, Best Paper Award of the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exhibition (IMECE), 11-15 Nov., Seattle, WA, 2007.

2009-2010, Best lecturer award of the Master programs "Sustainable Processes and Energy technologies" and "Solid and Fluid Mechanics" of the Delft University of Technology.

2011-2012, Best lecturer award of the Master programs "Sustainable Processes and Energy technologies" and "Solid and Fluid Mechanics" of the Delft University of Technology. 

Projects

• CC-Powertrain for trucks
• Mini-ORC turbogenerator for 0-energy buildings
• BZT fluids for small power systems
• Non-ideal Compressible Fluid Dynamics for Turbomachinery
• Novel ECS for aircraft
• CC-engine and CC-APU for next-generation aircraft
• sCO2 power cycle for waste heat recovery
• Thermal Energy harvesting on board of aircraft
• Methods for ultra-compact aerospace heat exchangers design
• Mixtures as working fluids for ORC systems

Other Positions and Memberships

• Associate Editor, ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power (July 2013 - July 2015)
• Editor,  Special JEGTP 2013 Issue on ORC Power Systems
• Chairman, ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) board (2016-2017)
• Vice Chairman, ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) board (2014-2015)
• Chairman, ORC Power Systems committee of the IGTI (2012-2015)
• Vice Chairman, Board of the Knowledge Center of Organic Rankine Cycle Technology (KCORC) (2017-2019)
• Chairman, Board of the Knowledge Center of Organic Rankine Cycle Technology (KCORC) (2020)
• Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2000-2022.
• Chairman, ORC 2011 International Seminar
• Chairman, ASME ORC 2013 Conference
• Honorary Chairman, ASME ORC 2015 Conference, ORC 2017, ORC 2019, ORC 2021, ORC 2023
• Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Propulsion and Power Society since 2018
• Associate Editor of the Journal of the Global Propulsion and Power Society since 2018. 
• Member of the Board of the SU2 Foundation since 2021

Publications List (Selected or Complete)

Supervision of Doctoral Candidates

1. Prof. Dr. Paolo Silva (Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano)    
2. Dr. Falk Ahnert (Head of Global Development Support, Wintershall)   
3. Dr. Hans van Putten (Software Product Development Manager, Department Head at Deltares)    
4. Dr. Ryan Nannan (Dean of the Mech. Eng. Dept., Anton De Kom University, Board Member at Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname)     
5. Dr. John Harinck (Program manager, Institute for Sustainable Process Technologies - ISPT)
6. Dr. Emiliano Casati (PostDoc research associate, ETH Zurich, PREC group, Emiliano is one of the recipient of the European individual fellowship Marie S. Curie-Global)    
7. Dr. Carsten Trapp (Senior Analyst, Structuring & Valuation, Vattenfall)
8. Dr. Enrico Rinaldi (Software Developer, Maxon)
9. Dr. Tiemo Mathijssen (Expert, meteorological instrumentation, Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut - KNMI)
10. Dr. Sebastian Bahamonde (Simulation Engineer, ASML)
11. Dr. Salvatore Vitale (Software Engineer, ING)
12. Dr. Lucia Azzini (Thermal Engineer, GE Avio Aero)
13. Dr. Antonio Rubino (Product & Engineering Manager, PlanetWatch)
14. Dr. André Perpignan (Computational Fluid Dynamics Engineer, Thermon)
15. Dr. Nitish Anand (Senior Researcher at VITO)
16. Dr. Adam Head (Research Engineer at TU Delft)
17. Dr. Francesco Mazza (PostDoc Researcher at TU Delft)
18. Dr. Francesco Tosto (Senior Researcher at VITO)
19. Dr. Nitish Chandrasekar (PostDoc Researcher at TU Delft)
20. Dr. Andrea Giuffré (PostDoc Researcher at TU Delft) 
21. Dr. Leonardo Castellanos (PostDoc Researcher at TU Delft)
22. Dr. Federica Ascione (R&D Engineer at NLR)

1. Dabo Krempus
2. Paul Gradl
3. Fabio Beltrame
4. Matteo Majer
5. Aude Lecardonnel
6. Lorenzo Galieti
7. Francesco Neri
8. Alessio Secchiaroli
9. Wessel De Waart
10. Floyd van Steen
11. Ruben Meireles

A bit about myself

I was interviewed by our marketing and information department when I was appointed professor: the transcript of the interview is displayed on the TU Delft Aerospace Engineering website  here.

My inaugural lecture can be seen here.

I am a passionate lecturer of Thermodynamics and organized an International Symposium titled  Teaching and Learning Thermodynamics in a Time of Change. A taste of it in these videos

Hobbies

Music, literature, photography, gardening, skiing, trekking and sailing 

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