Francesco Fedele

Francesco Fedele
Personal Website
Picasso and Einstein
Water Resources Engineering

Francesco Fedele

Associate Professor
Email Address
fedele@gatech.edu
Telephone
404.894.2217
Office Building
Mason Building
Office Room Number
3040A
Biography

Dr. Francesco Fedele is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont in 2004 and a Laurea in Civil Engineering from the Università Mediterranea, Italy, in 1998. He joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2007 after a postdoctoral research appointment at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 

Research

Dr. Fedele has established a research program focused on fundamental and applied problems in nonlinear wave phenomena, fluid and wave mechanics. His work spans theoretical, numerical, and experimental studies of oceanic rogue waves. 

Education
  1. Ph.D.                   University of Vermont, Vermont, USA          2004 
  2. Laurea                 University Mediterranea, Italy                      1998 
Teaching

Dr. Fedele has developed a community-based teaching framework that integrates the arts into the Georgia Tech curriculum, broadening students’ perspectives on science and engineering holistically. He created the courses Art and Geometry and Art and Generative AI, which combine engineering science with artistic practice and community-engaged learning. 

Distinctions & Awards

  1. 2025 Editorial Contribution Award for contributions to Scientific Reports, NATURE 

  1. Transformative Teaching and Learning Innovation Incubator faculty fellow 2025-2026, Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), Georgia Institute of Technology 

  1. Hesburgh Award Teaching Fellow 2024-2025, Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), Georgia Institute of Technology. 

  1. CETL Curriculum Innovation Award, 2024, Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Georgia Institute of Technology.  

  1. CEE Education Innovation Award, 2024, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology 

  1. CEE Senior Faculty Teaching Award, 2022. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, (awardees: Francesco Fedele and Rachel Grant)  

  1. Class of 1934 CIOS Honor Roll Award, 2021. Georgia Institute of Technology, Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, in recognition of Excellence in Teaching for the Special Topics Course CEE8823 “Arts and Geometry” (Instructors: Francesco Fedele and Rachel Grant)  

  1. Class of 1934 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Award, 2013. Georgia Institute of Technology, Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. In recognition for excellence in teaching for the ECE 2025 Course “Introduction to Signal Processing. 

  2. OMAE 2011 SSR Best Paper Award at the 30th ASME Int. Conf. Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engng,, Rotterdam,  The Netherlands 

Publications

  1. Knobler S., Malila M.P., Tayfun M.A., Liberzon D., Fedele F. 2025 Effects of bound-wave asymmetry on North Sea rogue waves, NATURE-Scientific Reports, 20609 

  1. Fedele F., Chandre C., Horvat M., Zagar, N. 2025 Hamiltonian Lorenz models, Physica D  472, 134494 

  1. Fedele, F. and Yavari A. 2024 Geometric Phases of Nonlinear Elastic N-Rotors via Cartan's Moving Frames, Physica D 459, 134040 

  1. Fedele F.,  Suryanarayana  P., Yavari A., 2023 On the effective dynamic mass of mechanical lattices with microstructure, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 179, 105393 

  1. Pilloton, C., Lugni, C., Graziani, G. and Fedele F. 2023 Wave dispersion in moderate channel turbulence. Scientific Reports-NATURE 13, 6801 

  1. Fedele, F., Banner, M., Barthelemy, X. 2020 Crest speeds of unsteady water waves, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 899, A5 

  1. Fedele F., Lugni, C. and Chawla 2017 The sinking of the El Faro: predicting real world rogue waves during Hurricane Joaquin Scientific Reports-NATURE 7, 11188 

  1. Fedele F., Chandre C. and M. Farazmand 2016 Kinematics of fluid particles on the sea surface: Hamiltonian theory, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 801:260-288 

  1. Fedele F., Brennan J., Ponce de Leon S., Dudley J. and F. Dias 2016 Real world ocean rogue wave explained without the modulation instability, Scientific Reports-NATURE 6, 27715 

  1. Fedele F., 2016 Are rogue waves really unexpected? Journal of Physical Oceanography 46:1495-1508 

  1. Fedele F., 2015 On the kurtosis of ocean waves in deep water, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 782: 25–36. 

  1. Fedele F., O. Abessi and P. J. Roberts 2015 Symmetry reduction of turbulent pipe flows, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 779:390-410. 

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