Franco Cotana (b. Marsciano, 22 December 1957) is an Italian engineer, scientist, and a member of the board of directors of the University of Perugia from 2014 to 2019. He was formerly president from March until October 2014 of the National Commission's IPPC-AIA at the Ministry of the Environment.

Early life

A native of Monte Vibiano-Mercatello ( Perugia), Cotana obtained a diploma with top honors at the State Technical Institute in 1976, and in 1983 he graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the University of Rome La Sapienza. He financially supported his studies by designing and building electrical systems and windings for electric motors with a winding machine he designed.

Career

In January 1982, he won a national competition and got a job at ENEL, where he worked at the laboratory Measurements and HV lines and, subsequently, in the engineering role at DCO of Viale Regina Margherita where he dealt with the design of thermal power plants. Showing early sign of an entrepreneurial spirit he quit a secure job at ENEL and, from 1985 to 1990, shared his working time between Italy and the USA where he worked for major American companies (in Texas and California) in the field of test and burn-in on electronic components. In 1991, he won a post as a researcher in the scientific discipline of environmental technical physics at the Energy Institute of the new Faculty of engineering at the University of Perugia, having helped the growth of laboratories of applied acoustics-electro-acoustics, and thermophysical properties of fluids and environmental controls. In 1998, he won the competition to become an associate professor. In 2001, he became a full professor of industrial and technical physics in the Faculty of engineering at the university to coordinate technical physics section of the Department. Since 2010, he has been a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. In 2003, he founded the National Center for Research on

Biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...

(CRB) which he directed until June 2013 when the CRB was merged in the CIRIAF (Inter-University Research Centre on pollution and the environment with a strong multidisciplinary character that includes hundreds of teachers from 14 universities) of which he became contextually Director until 2015. Thanks to his efforts, a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in Engineering was born based in CRB that from 2013 it became an international multidisciplinary doctorate in energy and

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

of which Prof. Cotana is Coordinator and President. Today, the CRB-CIRIAF is the only University in Italy by inter-research that offers a PhD course. Author of over 300 scientific publications in highly interdisciplinary journals and holder of 20 patents, he is an expert evaluator of national and international projects

MIUR The Ministry of Education, University and Research (in it, Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, italic=no or MIUR) is the ministry of the Italian government for the national education system, the Italian universities and ...

with over 20 years of experience. From 2009, he has been the Italian representative in Brussels for the SET-Plan EIBI (strategic energy technology plan – European industrial

bioenergy Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

Initiative). Among his best known patents: PIPENET is an innovative transportation system for light goods at very high speed, TEAM is the energy Tower Multifunctional Environmental for the Smart City; The SEA is the innovative system of cultivation of

micro-algae Microalgae or microphytes are microscopic algae invisible to the naked eye. They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. They are unicellular species which exist individua ...

in ocean and marine spaces for Blue Growth, Albedo Control is finally the project for

climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing Greenhouse gas emissions, emissions of greenhouse gases or Carbon sink, removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caus ...

. In 2014, after several experiences in various boards of public companies-private, Prof. Cotana became member of the board of directors of the University of Perugia as one of the 5 members elected by the University Senate representing the Engineering, Veterinary and

Agricultural science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Profession ...

s. Since July 2023 he is the CEO of RSE https://www.rse-web.it/.

References

External links

* in the House of representatives Commission Hearing of Professor Cotana, October 22, 2015 http://www.camera.it/leg17/1104?shadow_organo_parlamentare=2084 * http://www.crbnet.it/File/Pubblicazioni/pdf/1541.pdf * https://www.unipg.it/files/pagine/137/drN471.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotana, Franco 20th-century Italian engineers Academic staff of the University of Perugia American science writers Living people 1957 births