Academic curriculum vitae
Alessandro Lenci
DICAM, University of Bologna — Bologna, Italy
alessandro.lenci@unibo.it
ORCID 0000-0002-0285-6991 · ResearcherID AAQ-1649-2020 · Scopus 57204477639
Research summary
I am a Tenure-Track Researcher in Hydraulics at the University of Bologna, an appointment broadly corresponding to an Assistant Professor position in many international systems. My work addresses flow and transport in heterogeneous porous and fractured media, at the interface between fluid mechanics, complex fluids and subsurface applications.
What I have done. My earlier work established how non-Newtonian rheology modifies flow in fractures and channels of variable aperture: analytical channel models for bi-viscous, truncated power-law and Ellis fluids; laboratory experiments on the backflow of polymeric solutions in planar fractures; and a lubrication-based numerical solver for shear-thinning flow in rough fractures. Monte Carlo simulations and reduced-order models then connected aperture statistics and rheological parameters to fracture-scale flow metrics, alongside work on gravity-driven currents of power-law fluids and on effective properties of layered porous media.
What I do now. Within the GEONEAT MSCA Global Fellowship, I work on heat and solute transport in rough-walled fractures coupled to the surrounding rock matrix. I develop stochastic Lagrangian frameworks — time-domain and continuous-time random walks — in which aperture-controlled velocity statistics set advective residence times, while matrix conduction enters through analytically derived trapping-time distributions and nonlocal exchange kernels. This allows anomalous, non-Fickian breakthrough to be predicted from fracture geometry and fluid rheology alone, and, through global sensitivity analysis, identifies which aperture and rheological parameters actually control the observable response.
What I am interested in. My central interest is structural heterogeneity in porous and fractured media, and how it governs flow and transport: this is a question of upscaling and multiscale modeling, of carrying pore- and fracture-scale mechanisms up to effective descriptions valid at the scale of observation. Within this frame, heat transport is my main object of study, approached through stochastic Lagrangian formulations of advection in rough fractures coupled to conduction in the rock matrix, and through the use of thermal signatures to infer structural and transport properties of geothermal reservoirs and subsurface thermal storage systems. More specific threads follow from the same question: flow beyond the Darcian regime, where inertial and nonlinear effects break the linear relation between pressure gradient and flux; gravity-driven currents; and fluids with complex rheology, whose nonlinear constitutive response turns them into selective probes of the medium rather than passive carriers.
Academic appointments
Tenure-Track Researcher (RTT, L. 79/2022) May 2026 – present
Hydraulics (CEAR-01/A), DICAM, University of Bologna, Italy.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow Mar 2024 – present
Global Postdoctoral Fellowship GEONEAT (GA 101111216, €266k). Outgoing phase at Stanford University, Data-Driven Modeling & Simulations Group (Mar 2024 – Aug 2025); secondment at Géosciences Rennes, CNRS – University of Rennes (Sep 2025 – Mar 2026); return phase at DICAM, University of Bologna (Mar 2026 – Feb 2027).
Junior Assistant Professor (RTD-A, non-tenure track) Mar 2023 – Feb 2024
SC 08/A1 – SSD ICAR/01 Hydraulics, DICAM, University of Bologna. Funded by the PNRR Extended Partnership RETURN.
Postdoctoral Researcher Nov 2021 – Feb 2023
DICAM, University of Bologna. Funded by the EU Horizon Europe project StopUP (GA 101060428).
Research Fellow Jul 2017 – Jul 2018
Interdepartmental Centre for Industrial Research on Buildings and Construction, University of Bologna. Funded by GST4WATER (POR-FESR Emilia-Romagna 2014–2020).
National Scientific Qualification (ASN) — Associate Professor Nov 2023
Scientific sector 08/A1, Hydraulics, Hydrology, Hydraulic and Maritime Constructions. Italian Ministry of University and Research.
Education
PhD in Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering Nov 2018 – Oct 2021
Awarded “excellent with honours”. University of Bologna. Advisors: V. Di Federico, Y. Méheust, M. Putti. Dissertation: Flow of Complex Fluids in Geological Fractures, defended 15 March 2022.
International MSc in Civil Engineering Oct 2016
University of Bologna. Thesis: Multiphase flow in porous media: meta-modeling techniques for sensitivity analysis and risk assessment.
BSc in Civil Engineering Jul 2014
Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Schools and workshops
International School on Inverse Modeling in Geophysics, Como, Italy (Sep 2023) · 26th CISM-IUTAM International Summer School on Convection and Deformation in Porous Media, Udine, Italy (Jul 2022) · 5th Summer School on Flow and Transport in Porous and Fractured Media, Cargèse, France (Jul 2021) · HyLab Workshop: Introduction to Geostatistics, University of Parma (Apr 2018).
Visiting positions and affiliations
Postdoctoral Researcher — MSCA secondment Sep 2025 – Feb 2026
Géosciences Rennes, CNRS – University of Rennes, France. Member of TERA (Fluids, Transport and Reactivity), since Mar 2024.
Visiting Scholar — MSCA outgoing phase Mar 2024 – Aug 2025
Data-Driven Modeling & Simulations Group, Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University, California, US.
Visiting Researcher Sep – Oct 2021 and Visiting PhD Student Mar – Aug 2020
Géosciences Rennes, CNRS – University of Rennes, France. Member of DIMENV, Nov 2019 – Mar 2022.
Research collaborations
Scaling flow and heat transfer in fractured media, with D. M. Tartakovsky (Stanford, since 2024) · Anomalous mass transport in geological fractures, with M. Dentz (IDAEA-CSIC Barcelona, since 2021) · Complex fluid flow in geological fractures, with Y. Méheust (Géosciences Rennes, since 2018) · Numerical modeling of flow and transport in heterogeneous media, with M. Putti (University of Padova, since 2018) · Gravity currents in porous media and free surface, with S. Longo (University of Parma, since 2017).
Awards
Direct appointment to a tenure-track position 2026
University of Bologna, under the Italian national programme for outstanding researchers (MUR, Ministerial Decree 919 of 22 July 2022).
MSCA Staff Exchanges Secondment Grant 2022 €4k
H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017 project GHAIA, Geometric and Harmonic Analysis with Interdisciplinary Applications (GA 777822).
ALMArie Curie SUpER Grant 2022 €10k
University of Bologna, for promoting participation in Horizon Europe MSCA actions.
Water Resources Research editorial board recognition 2021
For reviewing three or more manuscripts. Acknowledged in Destouni et al. (2022), Water Resour. Res. 58:e2022WR032547.
Physics of Fluids Editors’ Choice — Featured Article 2021
Lenci et al. (2021), 10.1063/5.0062422.
Marco Polo Grant, University of Bologna 2021 €3,450 · Honourable Mention, Travel Award (Resources, MDPI) 2021 · Best Presentation Award, 23rd CMWR, Stanford 2020
Invited talks
Mechanisms, Upscaling and Prediction of Anomalous Transport in Fractured Geothermal Systems May 2026
International Workshop on Mixing and Transport in Media with Morphology Modifications, TU Wien, Vienna. Invited by M. De Paoli.
Panelist, Panel of Marie Curie Fellows Jun 2025
Stanford Grant Writing Academy, Stanford, US.
Polymer Fluids in Fractured Media: The Effects of Complex Rheology and Heterogeneity Jul 2024
Flow and Transport in Permeable Media Gordon Research Seminar, Newry, Maine, US.
Potential of Polymer Fluids in Geothermal Systems Dec 2023
AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, US.
Stochastic Analysis of the Flow in Rough-Walled Fractures May 2022
Stanford University, US. Invited by D. M. Tartakovsky.
Flow Localization in Heterogeneous Fractures May 2022
University of Southern California, US. Invited by F. P. J. de Barros.
Flow of Complex Fluids in Geological Fractures Oct 2021
Géosciences Rennes, CNRS – University of Rennes, France. Invited by Y. Méheust.
Conference organization and chairing
Session Co-Chair, InterPore 2026 May 2026
Nantes, France. Session MS03: Flow, transport and mechanics in fractured porous media.
Session Co-Chair, CMWR 2024 Sep – Oct 2024
Tucson, Arizona, US. Session 13: Computational Modeling and Model-Data Interaction for Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport.
Projects
GEONEAT — Complex Fluids in Fractured Geological Media for Enhanced Heat Transfer Mar 2024 – Feb 2027
EU Horizon Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, GA 101111216. Role: Principal Investigator.
IsCc3 — ISCRA Class C, scalable computing on large-scale HPC architectures Nov 2024 – Aug 2025
CINECA HPC Leonardo, code HP10CEAPM0. Role: Principal Investigator.
RETURN — multi-Risk sciEnce for resilienT commUnities undeR a changing climate Mar 2023 – Feb 2024
PNRR Mission 4, Component 2, Spoke 8. Role: Fixed-Term Researcher.
MAR2PROTECT — managed aquifer recharge against groundwater contamination from Jan 2022
EU H2020, GA 101082048. Role: Research Unit Member.
StopUP — Protecting the aquatic environment from urban runoff pollution Nov 2022 – Feb 2023
EU Horizon Europe, GA 101060428. Role: Postdoctoral Researcher.
MONSAE, Alma Idea Grant 2017 2018 – 2019 · BRIGAID, EU H2020 GA 700699 2016 – 2020 · GST4WATER, POR-FESR Emilia-Romagna 2016 – 2018
Role: Research Unit Member / Research Fellow. HPC resources: Sherlock, Stanford University (2024–2027, PI).
Teaching
Junior Assistant Professor AY 2023/2024
Hydraulics, module 3 (2 ECTS, 20 h), MSc in Civil Engineering · Groundwater and Contamination Processes, module 2 (3 ECTS, 24 h), International MSc in Civil Engineering · Modeling and Management of Natural Hydraulic Systems, module 2 (1.5 ECTS, 16 h), International MSc in Environmental Engineering.
Junior Assistant Professor and Adjunct Professor AY 2022/2023
Environmental Hydraulics (1.5 ECTS, 12 h), MSc in Civil Engineering · Advanced Hydrosystem Engineering, module 4 (1.5 ECTS, 12 h), International MSc in Civil Engineering · Groundwater and Contamination Processes (3 ECTS, 34 h), International MSc in Civil Engineering · Hydraulics (30 h), BSc in Civil Engineering.
Adjunct Professor and Teaching Assistant AY 2021/2022
Hydraulics (2 ECTS, 30 h), MSc in Architecture and Building Engineering · Fluid Mechanics (30 h), BSc in Mechanical Engineering · Hydraulics (30 h), BSc in Civil Engineering · Groundwater and Contamination Processes (20 h), International MSc in Civil Engineering.
Teaching Assistant AY 2019/2020 – 2020/2021
Fluid Mechanics (30 h), BSc in Mechanical Engineering · Advanced Hydrosystems Engineering (30 h), International MSc in Civil Engineering · Hydraulics (20–30 h), BSc in Civil Engineering. Total: 160 h at DICAM, 60 h at Industrial Engineering.
Supervision and mentoring
Co-supervisor of PhD students
Sepideh Majdabadi Farhani, PhD in Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (2022–2025), DICAM, University of Bologna.
Co-supervisor of 3 MSc and 10 BSc theses at the University of Bologna, on the role of heterogeneity in flow through rough fractures, shear-thinning flow in geological media, nonlinear Forchheimer flow, rheological models for pseudoplastic fluids, seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers, risk analysis and water safety plans for drinking water systems, fault tree analysis for groundwater bodies, capture zones of remediation wells, wireless underground sensing of soil moisture, and vadose-zone water motion.
Service and peer review
Proposal reviewer 2025 – present
U.S. National Science Foundation, Division of Earth Sciences — Water, Landscape and Critical Zone Processes (WaLCZ).
Member of the internationalization committee Dec 2022 – present
International MSc in Civil Engineering, DICAM, University of Bologna.
Refereeing — over 40 peer reviews for international journals in fluid mechanics, hydrology and porous media
Journal of Fluid Mechanics · Water Resources Research · Advances in Water Resources · Transport in Porous Media · Computational Geosciences · Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment · Journal of Hydrology · Engineering Geology · International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer · Geophysical Research Letters · Scientific Reports · Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering · International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics · The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering · Chemical Engineering Journal Advances · International Journal of Mining Science and Technology · Flow Measurement and Instrumentation · International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences · Biosystems Engineering
Professional societies
Society of Petroleum Engineers · European Geosciences Union · American Geophysical Union · Italian Group of Hydraulics · International Society for Porous Media (InterPore)
Scientific production
Scopus h-index 10 · 20 documents · 227 citations
Web of Science h-index 9 · 20 documents · 100 citations
Google Scholar h-index 10 · 54 documents · 294 citations