Domenico Grasso

Early life and education

Grasso was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 16, 1955, 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.

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.

Grasso attended college on an Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship. 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. He deployed as part of two REFORGERS, Certain Sentinel (1986) and Certain Challenge (1988).

Academic career

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. During 1996, Grasso was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.

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, the United States' first women's college engineering program. While there, he collaborated with astronaut Sally Ride on TOYChallenge, a nationwide toy design event that encouraged STEM learning for middle school students.

University of Vermont

In 2005, Grasso was named the University of Vermont's dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and later served as vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College. 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.

University of Delaware

Grasso began his appointment as provost at the University of Delaware in 2013. While in office, he created the Division of Enrollment Management and Institute for Financial Services Analytics. He also played a major role in new university programs in the humanities, arts, social sciences and entrepreneurship. In 2015, Grasso launched the Community Engagement Initiative.

University of Michigan

Dearborn campus

Ann Arbor campus

On May 8, 2025, the Regents of the University of Michigan appointed Grasso as interim president of the University of Michigan, effective immediately, following then-president Santa Ono's May 4 resignation for the presidency at the University of Florida. Grasso indicated that he would retire from the University of Michigan after a permanent president of the university assumed the office. Gabriella Scarlatta, then-provost of the Dearborn campus, was appointed interim chancellor of the Dearborn campus, succeeding Grasso. According to the university's October 2025 report pursuant to Section 241a(4)(k) of the State School Aid Act of 1979 of the state of Michigan, Grasso's annual salary for the 2025–2026 fiscal year is US$1.3 million.

Scholarship and research

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. He has also written extensively on the intersection of engineering education with the liberal arts and social sciences.

He has authored or co-authored hundreds of journal articles, essays and reports, and was editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Engineering Science. He is the co-editor and chief contributor to the book Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology (Springer 2010). He has also authored the book Hazardous Waste Site Remediation (Routledge 1993) and co-edited the book Hazardous Waste Management (UNESCO-ELOSS 2009).

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.

Grasso, a member of a World Bank-funded international team that started the first environmental engineering program in Argentina, 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.

Honors and awards

Among the honors and awards received by Grasso are the AWWA National Doctoral Dissertation Award; being elected Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors; the Association for Environmental Health and Sciences Foundation Career Achievement Award; the John Cabot University Education Excellence Award; the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement, WPI; the Water Environment Federation Disinfection Pioneer Award.

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

References

1. (1977). "The Peddler". Worcester Polytechnic Institute Senior Class 1977.
2. "About Domenico Grasso".
3. (2025-04-18). "CURRICULUM VITAE – DOMENICO GRASSO".
4. (September 27, 2018). "New leaders take the helm at Dearborn's higher learning institutions".
5. University, Rowan. "Dr. Domenico Grasso".
6. Owens, Caleb. (September 26, 2017). "Provost Grasso resigns, plans to return as faculty member".
7. (January 4, 2000). "The engineer behind Smith's new program". Christian Science Monitor.
8. (May 15, 2009). "UVM names interim provost, interim business school dean, dean of graduate college".
9. Dean, Katie. (September 28, 2002). "Sally Ride Toys With Engineering".
10. "UVM Appoints Engineering Pioneer Dean of College of Engineering and Mathematics".
11. "On paid leave, former University of Delaware provost takes new job".
12. (January 30, 2013). "UVM Dean Dom Grasso named University of Delaware provost".
13. (January 30, 2013). "University of Delaware names new provost".
14. Shannon, Josh. (September 26, 2017). "UD provost to resign Oct. 15".
15. (September 26, 2017). "UD provost resigning".
16. "Minutes {{!}} Faculty Senate".
17. "Grasso named UM Dearborn chancellor".
18. "Chancellor Grasso on the past — and his next — five years {{!}} University of Michigan-Dearborn".
19. (September 1989). "AWWA Academic Achievement Awards".
20. "About Domenico Grasso {{!}} University of Michigan-Dearborn".
21. (March 1, 2024). "Domenico Grasso becomes interim president of University of Michigan".
22. "University Leadership Transition {{!}} University of Michigan-Dearborn".
23. (2025-10-17). "2025-26 Section 241a(4)(k) Collection".
24. "New report addresses curbing climate change and sustainably supplying food, water, and energy".
25. "Curbing Climate Change and Sustainably Supplying Food, Water, and Energy Among Top Challenges Environmental Engineering Can Help Address, New Report Says".
26. Fountain, Henry. (October 31, 2014). "Putting Art in STEM". The New York Times.
27. "9 questions with University of Michigan-Dearborn's new chancellor".
28. "Environmental Engineering Science | Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers".
29. (July 17, 2010). "Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology". Springer-Verlag.
30. (2017). "Hazardous Waste Site Remediation". Routledge.
31. "Hazardous Waste Management".
32. "Engineering Chair Named to Two National Posts".
33. (2004). "Defining Engineering Thought". International Journal of Engineering Education.
34. University, Rowan. "Dr. Domenico Grasso".
35. "AEESP Fellows".
36. "Career Achievement Award".
37. "John Cabot University Education Excellence Awards".
38. "ROBERT H. GODDARD ALUMNI AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT".
39. "Water Environment Federation Disinfection & Public Health Pioneer Award".