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Domenico Grasso
American civil engineer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Domenico Grasso (born 1955) is an American environmental engineer who has been serving as the interim president of the University of Michigan since May 8, 2025.
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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.
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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).
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Academic Career
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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
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]
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.[20]
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]
Under Grasso's leadership, the university achieved a 16% 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.[20]
During Grasso’s tenure, all PhD programs at the University of Michigan-Dearborn received formal sanction from the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and now carry the Rackham designation.[21] External research funding at the university almost tripled 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 intellectual empathy, and 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.[20]
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.[22] Grasso indicated that he would retire from the University of Michigan after a permanent president of the university assumed the office.[23] Gabriella Scarlatta, then-provost of the Dearborn campus, was appointed interim chancellor of the Dearborn campus, succeeding Grasso.[23]
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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.[24][25] He has also written extensively on the intersection of engineering education with the liberal arts and social sciences.[26][27]
He has authored or co-authored hundreds of journal articles, essays and reports, and was editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Engineering Science.[28] He is the co-editor and chief contributor to the book Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology (Springer 2010).[29] He has also authored the book Hazardous Waste Site Remediation (Routledge 1993)[30] and co-edited the book Hazardous Waste Management (UNESCO-ELOSS 2009).[31]
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.[32]
Grasso, a member of a World Bank-funded international team that started the first environmental engineering program in Argentina,[33] 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.[34]
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;[35] the Association for Environmental Health and Sciences Foundation Career Achievement Award;[36] the John Cabot University Education Excellence Award;[37] the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement, WPI;[38] the Water Environment Federation Disinfection Pioneer Award.[39]
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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
External links
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