Marco Bittelli – email: marco.bittelli@unibo.it – website: www.marcobittelli.it

Academic and Professional Experience
  • 2016–present: Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
  • 2011–2018: Research Associate, Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC), National Research Center (CNR), Sesto Fiorentino.
  • 2006–2016: Researcher, University of Bologna, Italy.
  • 2009–2012: Adjunct Professor, Washington State University, USA.
  • 2003–2006: “Rientro dei Cervelli” (MIUR).
  • 2002–2003: Post-doc, Washington State University, USA.
  • 2001–2002: Visiting Scientist, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
  • 1998–2001: PhD in Soil and Environmental Physics, Washington State University, USA.
  • 1996–1998: Master’s degree in Soil and Environmental Physics, Washington State University, USA.
  • 1989–1994: Bachelor of Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
Music Education and Professional Experience
Scientific publications (as of 24 February 2026)

Breakdown of peer-reviewed articles in various fields:

  • Earth and Planetary Sciences: 31
  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 27
  • Environmental Science: 25
  • Engineering: 8
  • Physics and Astronomy: 6
  • Mathematics: 5
  • Energy: 4
  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 2
  • Multidisciplinary: 1
  • Computer Science: 1
Books
Book chapters
  • 2020. Rossi Pisa P., L. Berichillo, M. Bittelli, V. Fortunati, M. Vignudelli. Layered Nature. Assessing and Monitoring the Environment for the Development of an Archaeological Park. In: An Integrated Approach for an Archaeological and Environmental Park in South Eastern Turkey. Eds. N. Marchetti, G. Franco, S. F. Musso, M. B. Spadolini. Springer Nature, Switzerland.
  • 2017. Ruairuen W., G. J. Fochesatto, M. Bittelli, E. B. Sparrow, M. Zhang, W. Schnabel. Evapotranspiration in Northern Agro-Ecosystems: Numerical Simulation and Experimental Comparison. In: Current Perspective to Predict Actual Evapotranspiration, Ed. D. Bucur, Chapter 4, pp. 65–84. ISBN 978-953-51-3174-8. DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68347.
  • 2016. Bordoni M., C. Meisina, S. Chersich, M. Persichillo, R. Valentino, M. Bittelli. Monitoring of hydrological parameters for the identification of shallow landslides triggering: A case study from Northern Italy. In: Landslides and Engineered Slopes: Experience, Theory and Practice, pp. 475–482. DOI: 10.1201/b21520-49.
  • 2015. Meisina C., M. Bordoni, M. Persichillo, A. Vercesi, G. Bischetti, E. Chiaradia, C. Bassanelli, C. Vergani, R. Valentino, M. Bittelli, S. Chersich. Analisi del ruolo dei vigneti sulla stabilità di versante in un’area soggetta a frane superficiali. In: Recuperiamo Terreno, Chapter 1, ISPRA, pp. 232–239.
  • 2014. Valentino R., M. Bordoni, C. Meisina, D. Zizioli, M. Bittelli, S. Chersich. Monitoring and Modelling of Soil–Atmosphere Interaction on a Slope Affected by Shallow Landslides. In: Engineering Geology for Society and Territory, Springer, pp. 1563–1566. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-09057-3_277.
  • 2014. Bordoni M., D. Zizioli, C. Meisina, R. Valentino, M. Bittelli, S. Chersich. Rainfall-Induced Landslides: Slope Stability Analysis Through Field Monitoring. In: Landslide Science for a Safer Geoenvironment. Eds. K. Sassa, P. Canuti, Y. Yin, pp. 273–279. Springer.
  • 2011. Bittelli M., A. Pistocchi, F. Tomei, P. P. Roggero, R. Orsini, M. Toderi, G. Antolini, M. Flury. CRITERIA-3D: A Mechanistic Model for Surface and Subsurface Hydrology for Small Catchments. In: Land Use and Agriculture Measurement and Modelling. Ed. M. K. Shukla, CABI Publishing.
  • 2010. Notarnicola C., B. Ventura, L. Pasolli, F. Di Giuseppe, M. Petitta, G. Bonafe, L. Caporaso, A. Spisni, M. Bittelli. Exploitation of C and X band SAR images for soil moisture change detection estimation in agricultural areas (Po Valley, Italy). Proc. SPIE 7829, 78290G. DOI: 10.1117/12.87049.
  • 2009. Bittelli M. Georadar. In: Groma 2. In profondità senza scavare. Ed. E. Giorgi, Casa Editrice BraDypUS, Bologna, pp. 251–272.
  • 2008. Rossi Pisa P., G. Bitelli, M. Bittelli, M. Speranza, L. Ferroni, P. Catizone, M. Vignudelli. Environmental Assessment of an Archaeological Site for the Development of an Archaeological Park. In: ARCHAIA. Eds. N. Marchetti, I. Thuesen. Archaeopress, Oxford.
Research projects

Participation in national and international projects:

 

  • 2023–2026. Wish-roots, Making soil health a breeding target. Towards Healthy, Resilient and Sustainable Agricultural Soils. EJP Soil (EU) (partner).
  • 2017–2023. PNRA16_00212. Dielectric Characterization of the Polar Cap by perforations at Dome-C. Progetti Nazionali di Ricerca in Antartide (partner).
  • 2018–2021. SWAMP “Smart Water Management Platform” (EU H2020-EUB-02-2017) (Research collaboration).
  • 2019–2021. Prediction of soil hydro-agricultural properties using Ground Penetrating Radar for improving agricultural practices. Collaboration between Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore, India) and University of Bologna (International PI).
  • 2016–2018. Monitoraggio intelligente per infrastrutture sicure (INFRASAFE). POR-FESR, European Regional Development Fund 2014–2020 (partner).
  • 2016–2018. Dielectric spectroscopy of soils (SOILSPECTRA). Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC), National Research Council, Italy (partner).
  • 2012–2015. Measurement of soil salinity: comparison of methods. Decagon Devices Inc., Pullman, WA, USA (PI).
  • 2011–2015. An intelligent system to detect forest fires. European Commission, EUROSTARS Projects (5717 EFIRE) (partner).
  • 2008–2014. Agroscenari: Scenari di adattamento dell’agricoltura italiana ai cambiamenti climatici. MIPAAF (partner).
  • 2007–2010. ARCHAIA: Case Studies on Research Planning, Characterisation, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites. European Commission (partner).
  • 2005–2008. Nuove metodologie per progetti integrati di parchi archeologici nell’area mediterranea. FIRB, Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, Italy (partner).
  • 2003–2006. Shallow Landslides Investigation Device (SLID): a tool to assess land susceptibility. European Commission LIFE Environment (partner).
  • 2003–2006. Water Quality Protection: Measuring hydraulic conductivity and solute diffusion to assess water flow and pollutant transport in soils and rocks. MIUR “Rientro dei Cervelli” (partner).
  • 1999–2001. A low-cost scanning thermodielectric analyzer to obtain freezing characteristics of foods, soils, and other materials. Washington Technology Center, Seattle, USA (leader).
  • 1997–1999. Effect of foliar application of chitosan on water use in field crops. Washington Technology Center, Seattle, USA (leader).
  • 1995–1996. Linking GIS (ArcView) and crop models (CropSyst) for large-scale assessment of water and solute transport (leader).
Awards and Recognition
  • 2021. Dalla base Concordia, nuove misure per monitorare i cambiamenti dei ghiacci in Antartide. UniBo Magazine.
  • 2008. Associate Fellow dell’Istituto di Studi Avanzati dell’Università di Bologna.
  • 2007. Gli scavi di Tilmen Höyük in Turchia, tra archeologia e ambiente. UniBo Magazine.
  • 1999. Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Manuscript Review.
Book reviews
  • 2016. Review of Soil Physics with Python: Transport in the Soil–Plant–Atmosphere, Philippe C. Baveye, Vadose Zone Journal. Link.
  • 2021. Review of Soil Physics with Python: Transport in the Soil–Plant–Atmosphere, Teruhito Miyamoto, Japanese Soil Science Society. Link.
Participation in national and international conferences and congresses
  • 2023. Sannino G., Anello M., Riani M., Laurini F., Bittelli M., Bordoni M., Meisina C., Valentino R. Assessment of long-time series of soil water content through an innovative robust statistical model. EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023. DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7099.
  • 2022. Anello M., Riani M., Laurini F., Bittelli M., Bordoni M., Meisina C., Valentino R. Robust statistical processing of long-time data series on soil-atmosphere interaction: preliminary results. 14th International Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications, Parma.
  • 2020. Martini E., Wollschläger U., Bittelli M., Tomei F., Werban U., Zacharias S., Roth K. Process-based hydrological modeling: accounting for subsurface heterogeneity by integrating pedology, geophysics and soil hydrology. European Geosciences Union.
  • 2016. Olmi R., Bittelli M. Identification of hidden relaxations by even-order derivative. Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances (ISEMA), Firenze.
  • 2014. Bittelli M. Tecniche ed approcci per la ricerca agronomica sul suolo. Workshop Tecniche di laboratorio per l’analisi della porosità del suolo, Bologna, Società Italiana di Agronomia.
  • 2014. Meisina C., Bordoni M., Zizioli D., Chersich S., Valentino R., Bittelli M. Soil–atmosphere interaction in a slope affected by shallow landslides: an example in Northern Italy. In: Unsaturated Soils: Research & Applications, Vol. 2, pp. 1409–1416.
  • 2011. Antolini G., Tomei F., Bittelli M. Testing of a coupled soil water and heat model under a vegetated surface in Emilia-Romagna (Italy). Geophysical Research Abstracts (EGU, Vienna).
  • 2004. Bittelli M., Flury M. Measuring liquid water content in frozen porous media. Soil Science Society of America, Seattle, USA.
  • 2003. Bittelli M., Flury M., Roth K. Determination of ice content in frozen porous media by dielectric spectroscopy. European Geophysical Society, Nice, France.
  • 2001. Bittelli M., Flury M., Campbell G.S. A thermo-dielectric analyzer to measure the moisture characteristic in porous media. European Society of Agronomy, Florence, Italy.
  • 2001. Bittelli M., Flury M., Campbell G.S. A thermo-dielectric analyzer to measure the moisture characteristic in porous media. European Geophysical Society, Nice, France.
  • 1999. Bittelli M., Flury M., Campbell G.S. Determination of soil moisture characteristic from soil freezing experiments. Soil Science Society of America, Salt Lake City, USA.
  • 1999. Mathison J.B., Bittelli M., Badini O., Flury M., Campbell G.S., Nichols E.J. Reduction of evapotranspiration by foliar application of chitosan. Crop Science Society of America, Salt Lake City, USA.
  • 1998. Campbell G.S., Bittelli M., Mathison J.B. Soil moisture characteristic estimated from TDR-measured soil freezing characteristics. Soil Science Society of America, Baltimore, USA.
  • 1998. Bittelli M., Campbell G.S., Flury M., Stockle C.O. Fractal characterization of particle size distribution in soils. Soil Science Society of America, Baltimore, USA.
  • 1997. Donatelli M., Stockle C., Nelson R., Gardi C., Bittelli M., Campbell G. Uso dei software CropSyst e ArcInfo per la valutazione degli effetti della gestione di sistemi colturali in Emilia-Romagna. Atti XXXI Convegno della Società Italiana di Agronomia, Milano.
Spin-Off

Results achieved in technology transfer through participation in the creation of spin-off companies, as well as development, application, and commercialization of patents.

  • 2021 – Collaborator of the Spin-Off Vaimee (vaimee.com), a company specializing in data management and software development within projects focused on water resource management in agriculture.
  • 2010 – Scientific Coordinator for the University of Bologna of the spin-off GAIAG Srl, funded by the Emilia-Romagna Region (link).
Teaching Experience

University of Bologna (2006–present)

Courses taught (BSc, MSc, PhD):

  • Agrometeorology, Soil Physics and Agricultural Ecology (6 ECTS) – BSc in Technologies for Land and Agro-Forestry Environment
  • Soil Physics (6 ECTS) – MSc in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies; MSc in Agro-Territorial, Forest and Landscape Ecosystems
  • Data Analysis Methods (5 ECTS) – MSc in Forest, Landscape and Environmental Planning
  • Experimental Methodology and Data Analysis (5 ECTS) – MSc in Agro-Territorial Ecosystem Management
  • General Agronomy (6 ECTS) – BSc in Agro-Forestry Land and Environmental Sciences
  • Philosophy of Science and Scientific Methods – PhD in Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences (2014–2022, in English)

Teaching activities include lectures, seminars, laboratory instruction (physical and computational), and supervision of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students.

 

International Teaching
  • Soil Physics (in English), International Master’s Program in Land and Water Conservation (2006–2013); supervision of MSc theses and internships in the USA
  • Adjunct Faculty, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
  • Summer School Lecturer, Adriatic School of Archaeology, University of Bologna – Non-invasive diagnostic methodologies for archaeology: Ground Penetrating Radar
Invited national and international teaching (seminars and short courses)
  • 2022. Can we measure soil density with electromagnetic methods? Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
  • 2020. Workshop on In-situ Testing and Geophysical Characterization. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
  • 2019. Invited speaker at the G.S. Campbell Lecture: “Dielectric spectroscopy to investigate ice and frozen porous media: a journey between spatial and time scales”. Washington State University, USA.
  • 2018. Short Course: Soil Physics with Python. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
  • 2018. Short Course: Non Linear Time Series Analysis. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
  • 2018. Short Course: Soil Physics with Python. University of Suratthani Rajabhat, Thailand.
  • 2018. Short Course: Soil Physics with Python. University of Zagreb, Croatia.
  • 2017. Short Course: Soil Physics with Python. University of Zagreb, Croatia.
  • 2016. Short Course: Soil Physics with Python. University of Zagreb, Croatia.
  • 2014. Invited Series of Lectures: Theory of Heat and Mass Transfer in Soil. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, Poland.
  • 2014. Organizer and Lecturer, Italian Society of Agronomy (SIA): Techniques and Approaches for Agronomic Soil Research, including X-ray tomography for soil porosity analysis. Bologna, Italy.
  • 2012. Invited Lecture: The Ground Penetrating Radar. Decagon Devices Inc., Pullman, WA, USA.
  • 2009. Invited Lecture: Research at the Soil and Environmental Physics group at the University of Bologna, Italy. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
  • 2009. Invited Lecture: L’utilizzo di metodi a pressione di vapore per la determinazione della curva di ritenzione idrica. Associazione Italiana Pedologi, CNR-ISAFOM, Napoli, Italy.
  • 2009. Invited Lecture: Microwave Remote Sensing. Measuring soil water content: methods, limitations and future challenges. CNR-IFAC, Florence, Italy.
  • 2009. Graduate Seminar: A 3-D Model of Surface and Subsurface Hydrology. Washington State University, USA.
  • 2008. Lecture: The physics of Ground Penetrating Radar. International Summer School, Ravenna–Marzabotto, Italy.
  • 2006. Invited Lecture: Water balance at the field and watershed scale. WUEMED: Improving Water Use Efficiency in Mediterranean Agriculture.
  • 2006. Invited Lecture: Innovative methods for measuring soil water content. WUEMED: Improving Water Use Efficiency in Mediterranean Agriculture.
Institutional Activities
  • 2006 – Organizer and coordinator of the exchange agreement between the University of Bologna and Washington State University (Pullman, WA, USA) for undergraduate, graduate, and PhD student mobility.
  • 2006–2013 – Coordinator of the International Master’s Program in Land and Water Conservation, jointly established between the University of Bologna and Washington State University.
  • 2014 – Organizer and coordinator of the exchange agreement between the University of Bologna and the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL, USA) for undergraduate, graduate, and PhD student mobility.
  • 2014–2022 – Member of the Academic Board of the PhD Program in Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences and Technologies.
Editorial and Scientific Activities
  • 2020–2022 – Associate Editor, Vadose Zone Journal.
  • 2020–2021 – Associate Editor, Geophysics.
  • 2019–2020 – Guest Editor, Water.
  • 2016–2018 – Associate Editor, Measurement Science and Technology.
  • 2008 – Member of the Organizing Committee, 10th Congress of the European Society for Agronomy (ESA), Bologna, Italy.
  • 2016 – Organizer and Member of the Scientific Committee, International Conference on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances (ISEMA 2016), Florence, Italy.