Our Team

Andrea Vacca is the director of the Maha Fluid Power Research Center, the largest academic research center dedicated to fluid power research in the United States. His research focuses on several aspects of hydraulic control technology including new concepts to perform hydraulic actuations, new designs and modeling of positive displacement machines, electrification of fluid power systems, modeling of the properties of hydraulic fluids, reduction of noise emissions from hydraulic components. His research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, and several industry partners (see here for a detailed list of sponsors).

Dr. Vacca holds 26 patents/patent applications and he is author of more than 200 technical papers, and of the textbook “Hydraulic Fluid Power”. He is the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Fluid Power, one of the directors of the Global Fluid Power Society and a former chair of the Fluid Power related divisions of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

In 2019, Andrea Vacca was awarded the 2019 Joseph Bramah Medal from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers for his contributions to “global fluid power research, particularly related to gear pumps”.

Andrea Vacca is an ASME fellow, and in 2025 he was inducted in the “Fluid Power Hall of Fame” by the International Fluid Power Society.

Andrea Vacca completed his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Parma, Italy (Laurea cum laude) and his Doctoral degree in Energy Systems from the University of Florence, Italy.

Awards

• 2010. SAE Excellence in Oral Presentation Award (SAE COMVEC)
• 2015. Outstanding Teaching Award – Agricultural and Biological Engineering Dept.
• 2015 Donald Julius Groen Prize of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
• 2016. Best Paper Award, 3rd Int. Conference on Dynamics and Vibroacoustics of Machines, Samara, Russia.
• 2017. Best Paper Award, 15th Scandinavian International Conference on Fluid Power, Linköping, Sweden.
• 2017. Bravo Award, FY2016-17, Moving the University Forward, awarded by the Purdue College of Agriculture.
• 2017. Best Paper Award, 2017 ASME/Bath Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control, 2017, Sarasota, FL, USA
• 2018. Best Paper Award, 2018 ASME/Bath Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control, Bath, United Kingdom
• 2019 Joseph Bramah Medal from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers “for contributions to fluid power research, particularly related to gear pumps, and for co-ordination of the global fluid power research community
• 2020. Best paper award, 2020 Global Fluid Power Society PhD Symposium, Guilin, China
• 2021. Outstanding Instructor, Fall 2021, Purdue College of Engineering
• 2022. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), Superior Paper Award, 2022
• 2022. GFPS best paper award, ASME/Bath FPMC2022, Bath, United Kingdom
• 2022. Best paper award, GFPS 2022 PhD Symposium 2022, Naples, Italy
• 2023. Best paper award, ASME/Bath FPMC 2023, Sarasota, FL
• 2024. Elected to the rank of ASME Fellow, 2024
• 2024. Best paper award, 2024 Maha Intl. Fluid Power Conference
• 2025. Induction to the Fluid Power Hall of Fame of the International Fluid Power Society

Invited lectures / Keynote speeches

• Invited Talk: “Modeling of external gear machines” at 2012 LMS Americas Vehicle Conference, June 19-20, Detroit, MI, USA
• Invited Talk: “Modeling of external gear machines” at 2012 LMS Americas Aerospace Conference, August 26-28, Huntington Beach, CA, USA
• Invited Seminar on “Research trends in fluid power”, Samara Aerospace University (Russian Federation), Jun 2-6, 2014
• Invited Seminar on “Understanding the key of positive displacement machines: the internal lubricating gaps”, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, University of Napoli “Federico II” March 19, 2015
• Invited Seminar on “Advanced methods for modeling positive displacement machines”, Aug 12-13, 2015, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
• Invited Talk: “Modeling and Optimization of Positive Displacement Pumps for High Pressure Fluid Power Applications”, ModeFrontier North America Users Meeting, 5th Nov 2015, Novi, MI
• Invited Keynote: “Advanced Modeling Techniques and Innovation in External Gear Pumps”, at WIEFP2016 – 3rd Workshop on Innovative Engineering for Fluid Power, October 25-26, Florianopolis, Brazil.
• Invited Keynote: “Electro-Hydraulic Control Methods to Increase Productivity of Off-Road Machinery”, at the Annual Conference of SUV Technology Committee of SAE-China & International Forum on Vehicle Transmission and Control Technology – 2016, September 22-24, Beijing, China.
• Invited Keynote: “New Trends in Fluid Power.. Purdue Renews it!”, at the “New Trends in Fluid Power – Design and Simulation Symposium”, June 27, 2016, Naples, Italy.
• Invited Keynote: “Electrification of fluid power machines: an opportunity for gear pump development” at the Global Fluid Power Society (GFPS) IEEE PhD Symposium, July 19, 2018, Samara, Russian Federation.
• Invited Keynote: “Advancing Fluid Power Technology: an Overview of the Approaches at the Maha Fluid Power Research Center” Bosch Rexroth 2018 Mobile Techdays, October 10, 2018, North Carolina, US.
• Invited Keynote: “An Efficient Electro-Hydraulic Drive Technology for Off-Road Vehicles”, The 20th International Conference of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Control Engineering, November 8-10, 2019, Jiaxing, China.
• Invited Seminar: “Approaches for improving hydraulic drive technologies”, Poclain Industries, December 13, 2019, Verberies, France.
• Invited Seminar: “Advancing Fluid Power Technology” at the Center of Automotive Research (CAR), Ohio State University, February 4, 2020.
• Invited Speaker: “Individual Electro-Hydraulic Actuators for Off Road Machines” at IFPE2020, The International Fluid Power Exposition - Research Symposium, co-located with CONEXPO-CON/AGG, March 11, 2020, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
• Invited Keynote: “An Efficient Drive Technology for Electrified Off-Road Vehicles”, at the 10th International Conference on Fluid Power Transmission and Control (ICFP 2021), April 11-13, 2021, Hangzhou, China (online).
• Invited Presentation: “An Energy Efficient Actuation Technology for Electrified Off-Road Vehicles” at Inn4Mech 2021, the business convention for mechatronics “Off-Highway Machine R-evolution”, July 12-15, 2021, Riva del Garda (TN), Italy.
• Invited Presentation: “Fluid Power Education at Purdue University” at the 13th International Fluid Power Conference (13IFK), June 15, 2022, Aachen, Germany.
• Invited Keynote: “Research and Applications of Multiple Pressure Rail Hydraulic Control Technology for Off-Road Vehicles” at the 9th International Conference on Fluid Power and Mechatronics, August 18-21, 2023, Lanzhou, China.
• Invited Presentation: “Hydraulic actuation technology for sustainable off-road vehicles: overview and case studies”, the 3rd Design and Development of Zero Emission Off-Highway Machinery USA, December 7-8, 2023, Chicago, IL.
• Keynote: “Fluid Power Trends Towards Sustainability”, 2024 Int. Maha Fluid Power Conference, Sept 4-5, 2024, Indiana, USA.
• Invited Presentation: “Hydraulic Control Systems for Battery Operated Vehicles”, DZOM2024 Design and Development of Zero Emission Off-Highway Machinery, Dec 3-4, 2024, Chicago, IL.
• Invited Presentation: “Excavator Powered by Hydrogen Combustion Engine: Hydraulic Actuation and Engine Interaction”, DZOM2025 Design and Development of Zero Emission Off-Highway Machinery Summit, Dec 10-11, 2025, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
• Invited Keynote: “Advancing Actuation Technology through Integrated Electric-Hydraulic Component Designs” IFP2026 - International Conference on Innovation in Fluid Power, Jan 24-25, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad, India.