Simonetta Rubol

My research interests are: ecohydrology, biogeochemistry and fluid mechanics of environmental interfaces. I focus on the effects of hydrology on bacteria and microbial activity in soils and sediments.

About me

I am an environmental engineer. My research interests are: ecohydrology, biogeochemistry and fluid dynamics of environmental interfaces. I focus on quantifying the effects of hydrology on bacteria and microbial activity in soils and sediments. My current projects are: 1) oxygen dynamic impacts on trace gas emissions in variable saturated soil; 2) bio-clogging and effects of water quality; 3) visualization of local maps of metabolic activity in soils and biofilms and 4) effects of turbulent flows on submerged vegetation and transport over canopies.

Ongoing research also includes: 1)electro-microbiology 2) visualization of complex flow path in porous media 3) bio-storage of pathogens in streambeds and 4) incorporating biogeochemistry and soil geophysical information to better predict trace gas emissions. My work relies on both laboratory experiments and numerical modeling.

I earned my PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Trento (Italy) in 2010. During my doctoral studies, I spent one year at UC Berkeley as a visiting scholar funded by the European Science Foundation. I hold a BS and MS degrees in Environmental and Land Engineering from the University of Trento (Italy). For my MS work, l was
awarded an Erasmus Fellowship to perform the research activities at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden.

After my PhD studies, I was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship. The Marie Curie project consisted in a joint research project between Duke University, the Technical University of Catalonia (Spain) and the University of Trento (Italy). With the conclusion of the Marie Curie project, I was employed as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Marine Biology at the University of Southern California (USC). During that time, I also worked as a Part-Time Lecturer in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at USC.

Currently, I am employed as a Physical Science Research Scientist at Stanford University in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering, where I am working on improving fundamental understanding of the flow and transport within submerged canopies.

ISince January 2018, I am also a Faculty in the Department of Environmental Sciences at USC.

email:rubol@stanford.edu