Marcelo H. Garcia

Marcelo H. Garcia is the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering and Director of the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He holds dual roles as a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Affiliate Professor in Earth Sciences and Environmental Change. With over 35 years of academic service, Garcia's career spans research, teaching, and leadership in water resources engineering and environmental hydraulics.

Education:

• Ph.D. & M.Sc. in Civil Engineering (1985, 1989), University of Minnesota
• Ingeniero en Recursos Hídricos (Salutatorian, 1982), Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina

Research Interests:

Garcia specializes in sedimentation engineering, river hydraulics, and societal risk mitigation. His work integrates experimental fluvial hydraulics with computational modeling to address challenges in:

• River morphodynamics and meander evolution
• Urban flood management and combined sewer systems
• Environmental impacts of oil spills and sediment contamination
• Historical hydraulic engineering (e.g., Roman aqueducts)

Professional Contributions:

He has advised over 100 graduate students and led major projects including:

• Editor-in-Chief of ASCE's Sedimentation Engineering manual
• Key member of the St. Clair River Sediment Task Force
• Scientific advisor for flood risk reduction in Florence and the Kalamazoo River oil spill

Recognition:

Awarded the Walter Huber Research Prize (ASCE), IAHR's Yalin Lifetime Achievement Award, and Fellowships from AGU and ASCE. His work has been featured in over 300 peer-reviewed articles and edited volumes.

Labs & Teams:

Director of the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Lab (NSF-funded since 1997), leading experimental and computational studies in fluvial hydraulics. Collaborates internationally with institutions like EPFL (Switzerland) and Caltech.