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Domenico Grasso

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Domenico Grasso
Grasso in 2018 speaking at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, DC
6th Chancellor of the University of Michigan–Dearborn
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 1, 2018
Preceded byDaniel Little
Provost of the University of Delaware
In office
August 15, 2013 – October 15, 2017
Preceded byTom Apple
Succeeded byRobin W. Morgan
Personal details
Born1955 (age 68–69)
Worcester, Massachusetts
SpouseSusan Hull
Children4
Alma materWorcester Polytechnic Institute (BS)
Purdue University (MS)
University of Michigan (PhD)
ProfessionProfessor and engineer
WebsiteOffice of the Chancellor
Scientific career
FieldsEngineering
Institutions
ThesisOzonation dynamics in water treatment: Autocatalytic decomposition, mass transfer, and impact on particle stability (1987)
Doctoral advisorWalter J. Weber, Jr.

Domenico Grasso (born 1955) is an American engineer, professor and the sixth chancellor of the University of Michigan–Dearborn. He has previously served as provost of the University of Delaware, vice president for research and dean of two different colleges at the University of Vermont. Grasso is Smith College's Picker Engineering Program's founding director.[1]

Early life and education

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Grasso was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 16, 1955,[citation needed] to Ciriaco Grasso, who immigrated from Ariano Irpino (Italy) and Tommasina Grasso who immigrated from Vieste (Italy).[2]

He attended college on an Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship[3] and holds a Bachelor of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Master of Science in civil engineering from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.[4]

Grasso is a veteran of the United States Army, serving 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.[5] He deployed as part of two REFORGERS, Certain Sentinel (1986) and Certain Challenge (1988).

Academic Career

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University of Connecticut

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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.[6] During 1996, Grasso was a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley.[7]

Smith College

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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,[8] the United States' first women's college engineering program.[9] While there, he collaborated with astronaut Sally Ride on TOYChallenge, a nationwide toy design event that encouraged STEM learning for middle school students.[10]

University of Vermont

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In 2005, Grasso was named the University of Vermont's dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences[11] and later served as vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College.[12] While at UVM, 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.[13]

University of Delaware

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Domenico Grasso poses for a selfie at the Michigan Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting.
Chancellor Grasso at Michigan Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting, 2024

Grasso began his appointment as provost at the University of Delaware in 2013.[14] While in office, he created the Division of Enrollment Management and Institute for Financial Services Analytics.[15] He also played a major role in new university programs in the humanities, arts, social sciences and entrepreneurship.[16] In 2015, Grasso launched the Community Engagement Initiative.[17]

University of Michigan-Dearborn

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On February 15, 2018, Grasso was named the University of Michigan–Dearborn's sixth chancellor, beginning August 1, 2018.[18] On February 16, 2023, The Board of Regents voted unanimously to reappoint him to a second term. [19] 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). [20]

During his time as Chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Domenico Grasso successfully navigated the institution through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring sound university operations throughout. He spearheaded a community-based strategic planning effort, culminating in the development of the GoBLUEprint for Success, which integrates quantitative key performance indicators that are continuously monitored to track progress.[21]

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.[21]

Under Grasso's leadership, the university achieved a 9% increase in its four-year graduation rate over three years and enrolled the two largest first-year classes in its history. He opened the $90 million renovated Engineering Lab Building and oversaw the renovation of Renick University Center. Grasso instituted a practice-based learning model campus-wide and established the Office of Community-Engaged Learning.[21]

External research funding at the university increased by over 100% since 2018 under Grasso's leadership. He restructured the university's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiative into the Office of Holistic Excellence, focusing on individual narratives, perspectives and goals. Grasso also transitioned the university to a responsibility-centered management budget model, significantly increasing central strategic university resources and reserves by more than 300%. Furthermore, he secured the second largest gift in university history. The endowment increased by 61% during his tenure.[21]

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.[21]

Scholarship and research

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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.[22][23] He has also written extensively on the intersection of engineering education with the liberal arts and social sciences.[24][25]

He has authored or co-authored hundreds of journal articles, essays and reports, and was editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Engineering Science.[26] He is the co-editor and chief contributor to the book Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology (Springer 2010).[27] He has also authored the book Hazardous Waste Site Remediation (Routledge 1993)[28] and co-edited the book Hazardous Waste Management (UNESCO-ELOSS 2009).[29]

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.[30]

Grasso, a member of a World Bank-funded international team that started the first environmental engineering program in Argentina,[31] 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.[32]

Honors and Awards

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Among the honors and awards received by Grasso are the AWWA National Doctoral Dissertation Award;[20] being elected Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors;[33] the Association for Environmental Health and Sciences Foundation Career Achievement Award;[34] the John Cabot University Education Excellence Award;[35] the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement, WPI;[36] the Water Environment Federation Disinfection Pioneer Award.[37]

Personal life

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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

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  1. ^ "The engineer behind Smith's new program". Christian Science Monitor. January 4, 2000. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  2. ^ Jesse, David. "9 questions with University of Michigan-Dearborn's new chancellor". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  3. ^ "The Peddler" (yearbook). archive.org. Worcester Polytechnic Institute Senior Class 1977. 1977. p. 224. Retrieved November 17, 2020. {{cite web}}: Check |archiveurl= value (help)
  4. ^ "About Domenico Grasso". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  5. ^ "New leaders take the helm at Dearborn's higher learning institutions". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  6. ^ University, Rowan. "Dr. Domenico Grasso". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  7. ^ Owens, Caleb (September 26, 2017). "Provost Grasso resigns, plans to return as faculty member". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  8. ^ "The engineer behind Smith's new program". Christian Science Monitor. January 4, 2000. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  9. ^ "UVM names interim provost, interim business school dean, dean of graduate college". May 15, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  10. ^ Dean, Katie (September 28, 2002). "Sally Ride Toys With Engineering". Wired. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  11. ^ "UVM Appoints Engineering Pioneer Dean of College of Engineering and Mathematics". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  12. ^ "On paid leave, former University of Delaware provost takes new job". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  13. ^ "UVM Dean Dom Grasso named University of Delaware provost". January 30, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  14. ^ "University of Delaware names new provost". January 30, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  15. ^ Shannon, Josh (September 26, 2017). "UD provost to resign Oct. 15". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  16. ^ "UD provost resigning". September 26, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  17. ^ "Minutes | Faculty Senate". Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  18. ^ "Grasso named UM Dearborn chancellor". Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  19. ^ "Chancellor Grasso on the past — and his next — five years | University of Michigan-Dearborn". umdearborn.edu. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  20. ^ a b "AWWA Academic Achievement Awards" (newsletter). Association of Environmental Engineering Professors newsletter. September 1989. pp. 4–5. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  21. ^ a b c d e "About Domenico Grasso | University of Michigan-Dearborn". umdearborn.edu. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  22. ^ "New report addresses curbing climate change and sustainably supplying food, water, and energy". phys.org. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  23. ^ "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.
  24. ^ Fountain, Henry (October 31, 2014). "Putting Art in STEM". The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  25. ^ "9 questions with University of Michigan-Dearborn's new chancellor". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  26. ^ "Environmental Engineering Science | Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers".
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ "Hazardous Waste Site Remediation". taylor & francis group. Routledge. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  29. ^ "Hazardous Waste Management".
  30. ^ "Engineering Chair Named to Two National Posts". www.smith.edu. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ University, Rowan. "Dr. Domenico Grasso". EESD 2018 Conference. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  33. ^ "AEESP Fellows". AEESP. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  34. ^ "Career Achievement Award". AEHS Foundation. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  35. ^ "John Cabot University Education Excellence Awards" (PDF). John Cabot University Annual Report Fiscal Year 2016. p. 22. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  36. ^ "ROBERT H. GODDARD ALUMNI AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT". Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  37. ^ "Water Environment Federation Disinfection & Public Health Pioneer Award" (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2020.
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