Curriculum
Education and qualifications. Received an Honours B.Sc. in Geological Sciences from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, in 1988, with a focus on mineral exploration and a thesis entitled “Contact Metamorphism in the Host Rocks Surrounding the Falcon Lake Igneous Complex”. Received a M.Sc. in Earth Sciences from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, in 1993, with a focus on chemical hydrogeology and a thesis entitled “Chromium in Lake Ontario: Geochemical Cycling and the Role of Redox Speciation in Controlling Dissolved Phase Concentrations”. Received a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Ca Foscari University, Venice, Italy in 2015, with a focus on gas geochemistry and a thesis entitled “The mapping and quantification of CO2 leakage and its potential impact on groundwater quality”. In 2014 he obtained the national scientific qualification as associate professor in the sector 04/A1 Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology, Volcanology, and Georesources and Applications. In 2021 he was Guest Editor of the Special Issue “Monitoring, Measurement and Verification for Offshore CCS: Outcomes of the STEMM-CCS project” published in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gases.
Research topics and activities. His main research interests centre on geochemical measurements and monitoring of surface water, groundwater and the unsaturated soil horizon to better understand natural systems and to ensure the safety of man-made systems. In particular, he has been involved in 12 EC-funded research projects focused on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), examining CO2 migration processes, developing spatial and temporal monitoring tools, and better understanding biological-physical-chemical interactions of CO2 in near surface environments. He has over 35 years of experience in field sampling as well as the use of a wide range of laboratory instruments for water and gas analysis. He is presently an RTDA in SSD 04/GEOS-01/C (GEO/08).