Domenico Grasso

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Domenico Grasso
Domenico Grasso, 2024 (cropped).jpg
Grasso in 2024
President of the University of Michigan
Acting
Assumed office
May 8, 2025
Thesis Ozonation Dynamics in Water Treatment: Autocatalytic Decomposition, Mass Transfer, and Impact on Particle Stability  (1987)
Doctoral advisor Walter Weber

Domenico Grasso (born 1955) is an American environmental engineer, currently serving as interim president of the University of Michigan since May 8, 2025.

Contents

Grasso graduated from the University of Michigan College of Engineering with a PhD in environmental engineering in 1987. He served as dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont from 2005 to 2013, as provost of the University of Delaware from 2013 to 2017, and as the 6th chancellor of the University of Michigan–Dearborn from August 2018 to May 2025.

Early life and education

Grasso was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 16, 1955,[ citation needed ] to Ciriaco Grasso, who immigrated from Ariano Irpino (Italy), and Tommasina Grasso (née Piracci) who was born in Boston, Massachusetts but raised in Vieste, Italy. [1]

Grasso received a Bachelor of Science with a major in civil engineering from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1977, a Master of Science in civil engineering from Purdue University in 1979, and a Doctor of Philosophy in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan in 1987. [2] [3]

Grasso attended college on an Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship. [1] He was part of the United States Army from 1977 to 1990 and resigned his commission as a major. He received awards that included the Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Reserve Components Training Ribbon, Army Commendation Medal and Army Parachutist Badge. [4] He deployed as part of two REFORGERS, Certain Sentinel (1986) and Certain Challenge (1988).

Academic Career

University of Connecticut

Grasso joined the faculty of the University of Connecticut's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1989. He later served as department head from 1998 to 2000. [5] During 1996, Grasso was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. [6]

Smith College

In 2000, he declined a chair position at Columbia University to become the Smith College's Rosemary Bradford Hewlett Professor, where he became the Picker Engineering Program's first director, [7] the United States' first women's college engineering program. [8] While there, he collaborated with astronaut Sally Ride on TOYChallenge, a nationwide toy design event that encouraged STEM learning for middle school students. [9]

University of Vermont

In 2005, Grasso was named the University of Vermont's dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences [10] and later served as vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College. [11] While at the University of Vermont, he established the university-wide Complex Systems Center and initiated efforts to broaden engineering education to more intentionally include the liberal arts and social sciences, including the creation of a B.A. program in engineering and a B.S. in engineering science. [12]

University of Delaware

Grasso began his appointment as provost at the University of Delaware in 2013. [13] While in office, he created the Division of Enrollment Management and Institute for Financial Services Analytics. [14] He also played a major role in new university programs in the humanities, arts, social sciences and entrepreneurship. [15] In 2015, Grasso launched the Community Engagement Initiative. [16]

University of Michigan

Dearborn campus

Grasso in his Dearborn office with the 2024 NCAA National Football Championship trophy on loan from Ann Arbor. Domenico Grasso, 2024.jpg
Grasso in his Dearborn office with the 2024 NCAA National Football Championship trophy on loan from Ann Arbor.

On February 15, 2018, Grasso was named the University of Michigan–Dearborn's sixth chancellor, beginning August 1, 2018. [17] On February 16, 2023, The Board of Regents voted unanimously to reappoint him to a second term. [18] He is the first University of Michigan alum to lead the university and is also a professor of public policy and sustainable engineering. In addition to being chief executive officer of the UM-Dearborn campus, he is an executive officer of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor | Dearborn | Flint). [19] Grasso transitioned the university to a need-based financial aid model, and, under his leadership, UM-Dearborn implemented the “Go Blue Guarantee,” which enables Michigan residents with family incomes of $125,000 or less to attend the university tuition free. Additionally, he oversaw the shift to a block tuition system and launched an initiative that provides all new first-year students with free football season tickets at Michigan Stadium. [20]

Grasso in Lake Como leading a Michigan Alumni tour of Northern Italy in 2024. Grasso in Italy, 2024.jpg
Grasso in Lake Como leading a Michigan Alumni tour of Northern Italy in 2024.

Grasso completed the first update to the campus master plan in nearly two decades, created a bike-friendly campus environment, and initiated an annual town-gown bike ride co-led with the mayor of Dearborn. In addition to his accomplishments at the university, Grasso serves as a board member of the Metropolitan Affairs Coalition, New Detroit and the Citizens Research Council. [20]

Ann Arbor campus

On May 8, 2025, Grasso was appointed interim president of the University of Michigan by the Board of Regents, following then-president Santa Ono's resignation for the presidency at the University of Florida. [21] Grasso indicated that he would retire from the University of Michigan after a permanent president of the university assumed the office. [22] Gabriella Scarlatta, then-provost of the Dearborn campus, was appointed interim chancellor of the Dearborn campus, succeeding Grasso. [22]

Scholarship and research

Grasso's research focuses on how contaminants change and move in the environment over time, as well as processes to reduce their impacts on nature and human health. [23] [24] He has also written extensively on the intersection of engineering education with the liberal arts and social sciences. [25] [26]

He has authored or co-authored hundreds of journal articles, essays and reports, and was editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Engineering Science. [27] He is the co-editor and chief contributor to the book Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology (Springer 2010). [28] He has also authored the book Hazardous Waste Site Remediation (Routledge 1993) [29] and co-edited the book Hazardous Waste Management (UNESCO-ELOSS 2009). [30]

Grasso has held a variety of distinguished posts in the environmental engineering and science fields, including fellow on the NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society, technical expert to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, vice chair of the Science Advisory Board for the United States Environmental Protection Agency and president of the AEESP. [31]

Grasso, a member of a World Bank-funded international team that started the first environmental engineering program in Argentina, [32] also chaired the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee that authored Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges and testified before the Congress of the Republic of Peru on sustainable development in Latin America. [33]

Honors and Awards

Among the honors and awards received by Grasso are the AWWA National Doctoral Dissertation Award; [19] being elected Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors; [34] the Association for Environmental Health and Sciences Foundation Career Achievement Award; [35] the John Cabot University Education Excellence Award; [36] the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement, WPI; [37] the Water Environment Federation Disinfection Pioneer Award. [38]

Personal life

Grasso is married to the former Susan Jean Hull, a University of Michigan engineering alumna who also has a Ph.D. from the Biden School of Public Policy at the University of Delaware, with whom he has four adult children: Benjamin, Jacob, Elspeth and Caitlin.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Peddler" (yearbook). archive.org. Worcester Polytechnic Institute Senior Class 1977. 1977. p. 224. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  2. "About Domenico Grasso". University of Michigan–Dearborn. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  3. "CURRICULUM VITAE – DOMENICO GRASSO" (PDF). University of Michigan–Dearborn. April 18, 2025. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 25, 2025. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  4. "New leaders take the helm at Dearborn's higher learning institutions" . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  5. University, Rowan. "Dr. Domenico Grasso". Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  6. Owens, Caleb (September 26, 2017). "Provost Grasso resigns, plans to return as faculty member" . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  7. "The engineer behind Smith's new program". Christian Science Monitor. January 4, 2000. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  8. "UVM names interim provost, interim business school dean, dean of graduate college". May 15, 2009. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  9. Dean, Katie (September 28, 2002). "Sally Ride Toys With Engineering". Wired. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  10. "UVM Appoints Engineering Pioneer Dean of College of Engineering and Mathematics" . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  11. "On paid leave, former University of Delaware provost takes new job" . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  12. "UVM Dean Dom Grasso named University of Delaware provost". January 30, 2013. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  13. "University of Delaware names new provost". January 30, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  14. Shannon, Josh (September 26, 2017). "UD provost to resign Oct. 15" . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  15. "UD provost resigning". September 26, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  16. "Minutes | Faculty Senate" . Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  17. "Grasso named UM Dearborn chancellor". Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  18. "Chancellor Grasso on the past — and his next — five years | University of Michigan-Dearborn". umdearborn.edu. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  19. 1 2 "AWWA Academic Achievement Awards" (newsletter). Association of Environmental Engineering Professors newsletter. September 1989. pp. 4–5. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  20. 1 2 "About Domenico Grasso | University of Michigan-Dearborn". umdearborn.edu. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  21. "Domenico Grasso becomes interim president of University of Michigan". The University Record. March 1, 2024. Archived from the original on May 15, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2025.
  22. 1 2 "University Leadership Transition | University of Michigan-Dearborn". umdearborn.edu. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  23. "New report addresses curbing climate change and sustainably supplying food, water, and energy". phys.org. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  24. "Curbing Climate Change and Sustainably Supplying Food, Water, and Energy Among Top Challenges Environmental Engineering Can Help Address, New Report Says". www8.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  25. Fountain, Henry (October 31, 2014). "Putting Art in STEM". The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  26. "9 questions with University of Michigan-Dearborn's new chancellor". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  27. "Environmental Engineering Science | Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers".
  28. Grasso, Domenico; Burkins, Melody, eds. (July 17, 2010). Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology. Springer-Verlag. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1393-7. ISBN   978-1-4419-1392-0 . Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  29. Grasso, Domenic (2017). Hazardous Waste Site Remediation. Routledge. doi:10.1201/9780203752265. ISBN   978-0-203-75226-5 . Retrieved June 3, 2020.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  30. "Hazardous Waste Management".
  31. "Engineering Chair Named to Two National Posts". www.smith.edu. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  32. Grasso, Domenico; Callahan, Kara M.; Doucett, Sandra (2004). "Defining Engineering Thought" (PDF). International Journal of Engineering Education. 20 (3): 412–415. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  33. University, Rowan. "Dr. Domenico Grasso". EESD 2018 Conference. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  34. "AEESP Fellows". AEESP. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  35. "Career Achievement Award". AEHS Foundation. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  36. "John Cabot University Education Excellence Awards" (PDF). John Cabot University Annual Report Fiscal Year 2016. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  37. "ROBERT H. GODDARD ALUMNI AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT". Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  38. "Water Environment Federation Disinfection & Public Health Pioneer Award" (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2020.