Simone Fatichi

Dean's Chair, Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Biography

Simone Fatichi received his BSc and MSc (cum laude) in Environmental Engineering at the University of Firenze (Italy).  In 2010, he obtained an International PhD title (outstanding evaluation) joint between the T.U. Braunschweig (Germany) and University of Firenze (Italy). Subsequently, he was a researcher and lecturer at ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Institute of Environmental Engineering, before starting as an associate professor at the National University of Singapore in 2020. In 2024 he was promoted to full professor. He was the recipient of the prestigious Antonio Feltrinelli Giovani Prize in 2019, the Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award of the American Geophysical Union in 2020, and the College of Design and Engineering, NUS Young Researcher Award in 2023. He is mainly working on hydrology, biogeosciences, and climate change-related topics addressing questions associated to global change and its impacts on vegetation functioning, water and soil resources, carbon cycle, and ecosystem services in natural and urban environments.

Qualifications


Positions

July 2024 – present Full Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (Singapore).
March 2020 – June 2024 Associate Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (Singapore).
March 2011 – February 2020 Research Associate and Lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich (Switzerland).
May 2010 – February 2011 Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Firenze (Italy).

Education

2010: International Doctorate Course (PhD) on “Mitigation of Risk due to Natural Hazards on Structures and Infrastructures” (Civil and Environmental Engineering) joint between the University of Firenze (Italy) and T.U. Braunschweig (Germany), outstanding evaluation.
2006: Master of Science in Environmental and Earth Protection Engineering at the University of Firenze (Italy), cum laude.
2004: Bachelor in Environmental and Earth Engineering at the University of Firenze (Italy), cum laude.

Honours & Awards

      • 2023, National University of Singapore. College of Design and Engineering. YOUNG RESEARCHER AWARD.
      • Jan 2023 – Jul 2024. DEAN’S CHAIR at the National University of Singapore. College of Design and Engineering.
      • 2020, HYDROLOGIC SCIENCES EARLY CAREER AWARD awarded by the “American Geophysical Union” in recognition of outstanding contributions to hydrology through research, education, or societal impact.
      • 2020, Institute of Physics (IOP) trusted reviewer status in recognition of an exceptionally high level of peer review competency.
      • 2019, PRIZE “ANTONIO FELTRINELLI GIOVANI” in Engineering of Complex Systems awarded by “Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei”. Highest Italian scientific recognition in a given area for young (less than 40 years old) scientists.
      • 2016, Editors’ Citation for EXCELLENCE IN REFEREEING for Geophysical Research Letters.
      • 2014, Biennial PRIZE EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI, awarded to the best young (less than 34 years old) Italian researcher in the field of Hydraulic, Hydrology and Hydraulic structure.
      • 2013, Editors’ Citation for EXCELLENCE IN REFEREEING for Water Resources Research.
      • More than 60 invited talks in various universities, research institutes, and international conferences (e.g., in Italy, China, Luxembourg, Switzerland, USA, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Australia, Germany, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Israel, New Zealand, India)

Professional Activities

  • Convener and Chairman for several years at the EGU General Assembly, at the AGU Fall Meeting, and the conferences Computational Methods in Water Resources, and Frontiers in Hydrology.
  • Editor for Water Resources Research (December 2022 – Ongoing).
  • Reviewer for more than 50 journals and for more than 10 funding agencies.
  • Main developer of the stochastic weather generators, AWE-GEN and co-developer of AWE-GEN2d
  • Main developer of the mechanistic distributed ecohydrological/ecosystem model Tethys-Chloris (T&C).
  • Co-developer of the mechanistic urban ecohydrological model Urban Tethys-Chloris (UT&C).

Teaching Areas

  • Water Resources Engineering
  • Hydrology
  • Climate Science for Engineers
  • Ecohydrology
  • Earth System Modelling
  • Coastal Processes and Blue Carbon

Research Interests

  • Distributed hydrological modelling and hydrological transport processes
  • Terrestrial ecohydrology and carbon cycle modelling
  • Plant physiology and tree-leaf hydraulic modelling
  • Modelling of soil biogeochemistry and soil physics
  • Urban ecohydrology and urban climate modelling
  • Stochastic weather and rainfall generators
  • Downscaling and climate change impacts on hydrology
  • Hydro-geomorphology in a changing climate

Publications (selected and recent)

Please find a full and updated list of publications at the following link:

https://scholar.google.ch/citations?user=J1Mbr7UAAAAJ&hl=en

  • Luo Z., J. Ren, S. Manzoni, S. Fatichi (2024). Temperature Controls the Relation between Soil Organic Carbon and Microbial Carbon Use Efficiency. Global Change Biology, 30(9), e17492, doi:10.1111/gcb.17492
  • Bassani F., S. Fatichi, A. Rinaldo, S. Bonetti (2024). Towards a metabolic theory of catchments: scaling of water and carbon fluxes with size. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 121(42), e241073612, doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2410736121
  • Paschalis A., M. De Kauwe, M. Sabot, S. Fatichi (2024). When do plant hydraulics matter in terrestrial biosphere modelling? Global Change Biology, 30, e17022, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17022
  • Meili N., J. Beringer, J. Zhao, S. Fatichi (2024). Aerodynamic effects cause higher forest evapotranspiration and water yield reductions after wildfires in tall forests. Global Change Biology, 30, e16995. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16995
  • Huang W. T. K., P. Masselot, E. Bou-Zeid, S. Fatichi, A. Paschalis, T. Sun, A. Gasparrini, G. Manoli (2023) Economic valuation of temperature-related mortality attributed to urban heat islands in European cities. Nature Communications 14, 7438, doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43135-z
  • Wang Y., N. Meili, S. Fatichi (2023) Evidence and Controls of the Acceleration of the Hydrological Cycle over Land. Water Resources Research 59(8), e2022WR033970, doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033970
  • Yang, Y., M. Roderick, H. Guo, D. Mirallas, L. Zhang, S. Fatichi, X. Luo, Y. Zhang, T. McVicar, Z. Tu, T. Keenan, J. Fisher, R. Gan, X. Zhang, S. Piao, B. Zhang, D. Yang (2023). Evapotranspiration on a greening Earth. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 4 626-641, doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00464-3
  • Zhao J., X. Zhao, D. Wu, S. Liang, T. Zhou, N. Meili, H. Wang, N. Liu, S. Zhao, and S. Fatichi (2023). Satellite-based evidence highlights a considerable increase in urban tree cooling benefits from 2000 to 2015. Global Change Biology 29(11), 3085-3097, doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16667
  • Zhao J., N. Meili, X. Zhao, and S. Fatichi (2023). Urban vegetation’s cooling potential during heatwaves depends on the background climate. Environmental Research Letters 18, 014035, doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acaf0f
  • Fatichi S., A. Paschalis, S. Bonetti, G. Manoli, C. Pappas (2023). Water Use Efficiency: A review of spatial and temporal variability. Chapter in the Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, Second Edition, 5, 527-542. Editor(s): Michael J. Goss, Margaret Oliver, Oxford: Elsevier., https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822974-3.00166-X
  • Paschalis A., S. Bonetti, Y. Guo, S. Fatichi (2022). On the Uncertainty Induced by Pedotransfer Functions in Terrestrial Biosphere Modeling. Water Resources Research, 58(9), e2021WR031871, doi:10.1029/2021WR031871
  • Zhang Z., A. Paschalis, A. Mijic, N. Meili, G. Manoli, M. van Reeuwijk, S. Fatichi (2022). A mechanistic assessment of urban heat island intensities and drivers across climates. Urban Climate 44, 101215, doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101215
  • Meili N., A. Paschalis, G. Manoli, and S. Fatichi (2022). Diurnal and Seasonal Patterns of Global Urban Dry Islands. Environmental Research Letters, 17, 054044 doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8
  • Fatichi S., N. Peleg, T. Mastrotheodoros, C. Pappas, G. Manoli (2021). An ecohydrological journey of 4500 years reveals a stable but threatened precipitation-groundwater recharge relation around Jerusalem. Science Advances, 7 (37), eabe6303, doi:10.1126/sciadv.abe6303.
  • Paschalis A., TC Chakraborty, S. Fatichi, N. Meili, and G. Manoli (2021). Urban forests as the main regulator of the evaporative cooling effect in cities. AGU Advances 2(2) e2020AV000303, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020AV000303,
  • Meili N., J. A. Acero, N. Peleg, G. Manoli, P. Burlando, and S. Fatichi (2021). Vegetation cover and plant-trait effects on outdoor thermal comfort in a tropical city. Building and Environment 195, 107733, doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107733
  • Botter M., M. Zeeman, P. Burlando, S. Fatichi (2021). Impacts of fertilization on grassland productivity and water quality across the European Alps under current and warming climate: insights from a mechanistic model. Biogeosciences 18, 1917-1939, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-294
  • Meili N., G. Manoli, P. Burlando, J. Carmeliet, W. Chow, A. Coutts, M. Roth, E. Velasco, E. Vivoni, and S. Fatichi (2021). Tree effects on urban microclimate: diurnal, seasonal, and climatic temperature differences explained by separating radiation, evapotranspiration, and roughness effects. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 58, 126970, doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126970
  • Botter M., L. Li, J. Hartmann, P. Burlando, S. Fatichi (2020). Depth of solute generation is a dominant control on concentration-discharge relations. Water Resources Research 56(8) e2019WR026695, doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026695
  • Manoli G., S. Fatichi, E. Bou-Zeid, and G. G. Katul (2020). Seasonal hysteresis of urban heat islands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 117(13) 7082-7089, doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1917554117
  • Fatichi S., D. Or, R. Walko, H. Vereecken, M. H. Young, T. Ghezzehei, T. Hengl, S. Kollet, N. Agam, R. Avissar (2020). Soil structure – an important omission in Earth System Models. Nature Communications 11, 522, doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14411-z.
  • Mastrotheodoros T., C. Pappas, P. Molnar, P. Burlando, G. Manoli, J. Parajka, R. Rigon, B. Szeles, M. Bottazzi, P. Hadjidoukas, and S. Fatichi (2020). More green and less blue water in the Alps during warmer summers. Nature Climate Change 10 155-161, doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0676-5
  • Meili N., G. Manoli, P. Burlando, E. Bou-Zeid, W. T. L. Chow, A. M. Coutts, E. Daly, K. A. Nice, M. Roth, N. J. Tapper, E. Velasco, E. R. Vivoni, and S. Fatichi (2020). An urban ecohydrological model to quantify the effect of vegetation on urban climate and hydrology (UT&C v1.0). Geoscientific Model Development, 13, 335–362, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-335-2020
  • Manoli G., S. Fatichi, M. Schläpfer, K. Yu, T. W. Crowther, N. Meili, P. Burlando, G. G. Katul, and E. Bou-Zeid (2019). Magnitude of urban heat islands largely explained by climate and population. Nature 573 55–60, doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1512-9
  • Fatichi S., Manzoni, D. Or, A. Paschalis (2019). A mechanistic model of microbially mediated soil biogeochemical processes – a reality check. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 33(6), 620-648, doi.org/10.1029/2018GB006077
  • Fatichi S., C. Pappas, S. Leuzinger, J. Zscheischler (2019). Modelling carbon sources and sinks in terrestrial ecosystems. New Phytologist, 221:652–668, doi:10.1111/nph.15451

 

Staff Details

Email Address

ceesimo@nus.edu.sg

Location

E1A-05-12