Andrea Rinaldo
Director – Laboratory of Ecohydrology
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
For his internationally-recognized expertise in hydraulic engineering that contributes to the structural understanding of river basins and the role drainage networks play as ecological corridors for species, populations, pathogens and biodiversity.
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Director – Laboratory of Ecohydrology
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
For his internationally-recognized expertise in hydraulic engineering that contributes to the structural understanding of river basins and the role drainage networks play as ecological corridors for species, populations, pathogens and biodiversity.
There are three professions which are entitled to wear the gown: the judge, the priest and the scholar. This garment stands for its bearer’s maturity of mind, his independence of judgement, and his direct responsibility to his conscience and his god. It signifies the inner sovereignty of those three interrelated professions: they should be the very last to allow themselves to act under duress and yield to pressure.
— E.K. Kantorowicz
Career Highlights
| 1985-present | Full Professor, Italian Academic System |
|---|---|
| 2018-present | Inaugural Neil Armstrong Distinguished Visiting Professor, Purdue University |
| 2016-present | Faculty Fellow, Hagler Institute of Advanced Studies, Texas A&M University |
| 2008-present | Professor, Hydrology and Water Resources; Director, Laboratory of Ecohydrology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne |
| 1992-present | Chair, Hydraulic Constructions; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universita di Padova |
| 2010-2014 | Director, Institute of Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne |
| 2004-2006 | Visiting Professor, Princeton University |
| 1993-2007 |
Director, International Centre for Hydrology Dino Tonini, Universita di Padova |
| 1993-2001 | Visiting Professor and Research Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1993-1997 | Director, Istituto di Idraulica G. Poleni, Universita di Padova |
| 1989-1992 | Director, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universita di Trento |
| 1986-1992 | Chair, Hydrology; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universita di Trento |
| 1978 | BS+MS Hydraulic Engineering, Universita di Padova |
| 1983 | PhD Civil Engineering, Purdue University |
| 2014 |
Doctorate Honoris Causa, Université du Québec-Laval & Institut national de la recherche scientifique. |
Hydraulic engineering is in Andrea Rinaldo’s family. With many in his family, including his father, the study of hydrology and fluid mechanics was an obvious option, if not an outright expectation. But his choice wasn’t assured until 1966, when he was 12 years old and a storm surge from the Adriatic Sea left his entire hometown of Venice, Italy, under six feet of water. He was then inspired to save the city he saw as “fragile and beautiful” by pursuing hydraulic engineering. The pursuit eventually led him to Purdue, which helped him discover himself and what would become a lifelong affinity for higher education.
“Purdue did not reaffirm my decision to pursue engineering as it was somewhat obvious to me, but rather injected an infectious passion for research at the boundary between engineering and science that lasts to date,” Rinaldo says. “Work ethics, rigor and a wonderful graduate education taught me a lot about myself and my true vocation within an academic environment that proved defining for my career. A long epiphany for me was the progressive establishment of my strong vocation for Academia.”
Rinaldo is a top authority in the field of ecohydrology — a field which he co-founded and helped define. His theory of self-organized fractal river networks and efficient transport networks is globally renowned. With his commitment to the subject, he directs the Lab of Echohydrology (ECHO) blending laboratory and field work with theoretical modelling to develop an integrated ecohydrological framework to understand for instance the spatial ecology of species, biodiversity in river basins, population dynamics, biological invasions along waterways, and the spread of waterborne and water related diseases.
His achievements have not gone unnoticed from the academic community. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and of Italian learned institutions including Venice’s Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti and the National Academy of Sciences (i Lincei) in Rome. He is currently a Neil Armstrong Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Purdue, as well as a Fellow of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University.
Due to his dedication, recognition followed him throughout his academic career. Among these recognitions, he received the Hydrologic Sciences Award from the American Geophysical Union and the Dalton Medal from the European Geoscience Unions. He also received the Luigi Tartufari International Prize for the Geosciences from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome, and the fourth Prince Sultan Abdullaziz International Water Prize (Creativity).
Drawing on wisdom gained from nearly 40 distinguished years as a global leader in his field, Rinaldo offers this guidance to today’s Purdue students: “Follow your vocation if you feel you have one without agonizing on whether you should pursue it in spite of its uncertainties.”