Professor Rotta Loria works at the intersection of geomechanics, energy, and environmental sustainability. In this context, he develops with his group theoretical and experimental investigations to understand, characterize, and predict the impact of energy transfers on the structure, properties, and behavior of geological materials: soils, rocks, concrete, and systems thereof. This work aims to unravel how structural modifications caused by perturbations that include thermal and electric fields affect the capability of geological materials to sustain mechanical forcing, to transfer heat, or to allow fluids permeation, from depths of meters to kilometers. Rotta Loria's overarching goal is to understand geological materials at their most fundamental – structural – level and to investigate the essential features of their properties and behavior (e.g., thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical).

The aim of this basic research is threefold: (1) Inspire new, environmentally friendly techniques to engineer geomaterials via minimal and renewably generated energy; (2) Invent novel geotechnologies to help conserve or develop the natural and built environments via the harvesting or storage of energy; (3) Conceptually develop geosystems with reconfigurable capabilities to cope with environmental forcing and general human activity needs. The theories and results developed by Rotta Loria's group serve unprecedented interactions with the subsurface, with the aim to revolutionize the sustainability and quality of our lives.