Grants per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
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.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Mechanics, PhD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
… → 2017
Building Engineering, MSc, Politecnico di Torino
… → 2013
Building Engineering, BSc, Politecnico di Torino
… → 2011
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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EAGER: CET: Harnessing Geothermal Structures as Thermal Batteries: Performance and Impacts
Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI) & Chinazzo, G. (Co-PD/PI)
9/1/24 → 8/31/26
Project: Research project
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Improving the engineering performance of coarse-grained soils with direct current electric fields
Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI), Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI), Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI) & Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI)
10/1/22 → 11/30/25
Project: Research project
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Off-Campus Subproject for CAREER: The Mechanics of Subsurface Urban Heat Islands
Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI)
8/1/21 → 7/31/26
Project: Research project
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CAREER: The mechanics of subsurface urban heat islands
Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI) & Rotta Loria, A. (PD/PI)
8/1/21 → 7/31/26
Project: Research project
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Designing Sustainable & Just Communities: Developing an undergraduate curriculum around innovation, climate action and social justice
Gray, K. A. (PD/PI), Gray, K. A. (PD/PI), Blomberg Stathopoulos, A. I. (Co-PD/PI), Blomberg Stathopoulos, A. I. (Co-PD/PI), Buscarnera, G. (Co-Investigator), Buscarnera, G. (Co-Investigator), Corr, D. J. (Co-Investigator), Corr, D. J. (Co-Investigator), Cusatis, G. (Co-Investigator), Cusatis, G. (Co-Investigator), Durango-Cohen, P. L. (Co-Investigator), Durango-Cohen, P. L. (Co-Investigator), Hambleton, J. P. (Co-Investigator), Hambleton, J. P. (Co-Investigator), Rotta Loria, A. (Co-Investigator), Rotta Loria, A. (Co-Investigator), Wells, G. (Co-Investigator) & Wells, G. (Co-Investigator)
National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, Inc.
6/30/21 → 6/30/25
Project: Research project
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Cementing Soils via Electrodeposition
Rotta Loria, A. F., Macias, A. L. & Kwon, Y. M., 2025, In: Geotechnical Special Publication. 2025-March, GSP 366, p. 11-19 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review
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Electrodeposition of Carbon-Trapping Minerals in Seawater for Variable Electrochemical Potentials and Carbon Dioxide Injections
Devi, N., Gong, X., Shoji, D., Wagner, A., Guerini, A., Zampini, D., Lopez, J. & Rotta Loria, A. F., Mar 2025, In: Advanced Sustainable Systems. 9, 3, 2400943.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Quantifying Creeping Deformations due to Subsurface Urban Heat Islands in Chicago
Thota, A. N. & Rotta Loria, A. F., 2025, In: Geotechnical Special Publication. 2025-March, GSP 366, p. 30-38 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review
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Settlement analysis in the context of underground climate change
Thota, A. N. & Rotta Loria, A. F., Jun 2025, In: Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment. 42, 100662.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Simulation of Subsurface Urban Heat Islands via the Random Forest Algorithm
Chu, Z. & Rotta Loria, A. F., 2025, In: Geotechnical Special Publication. 2025-March, GSP 366, p. 20-29 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review
Datasets
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Electrodeposition of calcareous cement from seawater in marine silica sands – Data
Jacobsen, S. D. (Contributor), Landivar MacIas, A. (Contributor) & Rotta Loria, A. F. (Contributor), ZENODO, Jul 15 2024
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12741685, https://zenodo.org/records/12741685
Dataset