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Federico Maggi

Federico Maggi photo

Senior Lecturer
Director Research and Research Training



School of Civil Engineering, Room 344
Phone: +61 2 9351 2115
Fax: +61 2 9351 3343
Email: federico.maggi@sydney.edu.au

About Federico

Federico Maggi joined the School of Civil Engineering in July 2009 as a Lecturer in Fluids and Environment.
He obtained his MSc in 1999 from the Polytechnique of Turin, Italy, with a thesis on nonlinear prediction of complex signals such as from deterministic chaos and turbulence. He received his PhD in 2005 from the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, with a comprehensive experimental and modelling work on turbulence-induced flocculation of suspended cohesive sediment. In 2005, Federico moved to Duke University, North Carolina, USA, where he became involved in advanced mathematical modelling of soil fluid mechanics. In 2006, Federico obtained an appointment at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, where his interests widened to soils physics and biogeochemistry. He joined since 2006 the Earth Science Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley USA, where he is currently guest scientist.

Research interests & current/recent research projects

In the Group of Fluids and Environment at USYD, Federico's research interests include environmental fluid mechanics, hydraulics and ecohydrology, biogeochemistry, sediment-water interaction, soil-plant-atmosphere interaction, reactive flow and transport in soils, climate change, isotope methods, water resources and quality, sustainable agriculture, bio- and phyto-remediation.

  • Biological flocculation of suspended cohesive sediment: a new, innovative facility built in the Fluids Lab is used to carry out optical observations of the interaction between suspended sediment and micro-organisms. The experimental data are used in conjuction with a modified population balance equation based on the Smoluchowski equation.
  • The theory of kinetic isotopologue and isotopomer speciation and fractionation: a new theory of biochemical isotope fractionation has allowed us to open new perspectives on elemental exploitation, movement, and release in soil microbial communities. Integration of this approach in mechanistic models of soil biogeochemistry is being carried out.
  • Global soil change: the change in food consumption patterns globally occurred in the past 50 years has radically changed the agriculture and farming practices, causing enormous consequences on soil quality (e.g., carbon and biodiversity loss, deforestation, desertification, etc.). Minimalistic and mechanistic models are carried out to assess the rate of soil change at field, watershed and continental scales.
  • Radiocarbon modelling: radioactive carbon produced during nuclear bomb tests in the sixties allow to establish the turnover time of carbon stored in soils. A new modelling framework for non-steady-state system is being developed to assess carbon storage and release rate to the atmosphere cause by perturbations such as climate change, agriculture, invasive species, etc.

Teaching and Learning

  • CIVL3614 – Hydrology
  • CIVL5665 – Advanced Water Resources Engineering

School & University Service

  • Director Research and Research Training
  • Year Advisor

Professional Service and Memberships

  • Reviewer for Journal of Hydrology, Water Resources Research, Water Research, Continental Shelf Research.
  • Member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Grants and Awards

  • Early Career Research, The University of Sydney, 2009
  • Lagrange Fellowship, The ISI Foundation, 2010

Publications

Journal

  • Tang F.H.M. and F. Maggi, (2012), The effect of 15N to 14N ratio on nitrification, denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 26, 1–13, DOI: 10.1002/rcm.6119.
  • Maggi F. and C. Pallud, (2012), The rise of water science off Earth, J. Hydrol. (416–417), 12–18, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.11.020. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F. and C. Pallud, (2010), Space agriculture in micro- and hypo-gravity: A comparative study of soil hydraulics and biogeochemistry in a cropping unit on Earth, Mars, the Moon and the space station, Planet. Space Sci. 58, 1996–2007, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2010.09.025. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F. and C. Pallud, (2010), Martian base agriculture: The effect of low gravity on water flow, nutrient cycles, and microbial biomass dynamic, Advances in Space Research 46, 1257-1265, doi:10.1016/j.asr.2010.07.012. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F. and C.Pallud, (2010), Effect of low gravity on water and soil-nutrient-biomass dynamics in a Martian soil-based agricultural plot, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 74 (Suppl. 1), A677.
  • Maggi F. and W. J. Riley, (2010), Mathematical treatment of isotopologue and isotopomer speciation and fractionation in biochemical kinetics, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 74, 1823–1835, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2009.12.021. Full manuscript
  • Marzachì C., F. Maggi, C. Roggia and D. Bosco, (2009), Effect of changing climatic conditions on chrysanthemum yellows phytoplasma infection, Journal of Plant Pathology 91(4, Supplement, December 2009), S4.31-S4.42.
  • Maggi F. and W.J. Riley, (2009), Transient competitive complexation in biological kinetic isotope fractionation explains non-stationary isotopic effects: Theory and application to denitrification in soils, Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences 114, G04012, doi:10.1029/2008JG000878. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F., (2009), Bioflocculation of suspended particles in nutrient-rich aqueous ecosystems, Journal of Hydrology 376, 116-125, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.07.040. Full manuscript
  • Gu C., Maggi F., W.J. Riley, G.M. Hornberger, T. Xu, C.M. Oldenburg, N. Spicher, N.L. Miller, R.T. Venterea and C. Steefel, (2009), Aqueous and gaseous nitrogen losses induced by fertilizer application, Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 114, G01006, doi:10.1029/2008JG000788, doi:10.1029/2008JG000788. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F., (2008), Projection of compact fractal sets: application to diffusion-limited and cluster-cluster aggregates, Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics 15, 1-5. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F., Gu C., W.J. Riley, G.M. Hornberger, R.T. Venterea, T. Xu, N. Spicher, C. Steefel, N.L. Miller and C.M. Oldenburg, (2008), A mechanistic treatment of the dominant soil nitrogen cycling processes: Model development, testing, and application, Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 113, G02016, doi:10.1029/2007JG000578. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F., (2008), Stochastic flocculation of cohesive sediment: Analysis of floc mobility with the floc size spectrum, Water Resources Research 44, W01433, doi:10.1029/2007WR006109. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F. and A. Porporato, (2007), Coupled moisture and microbial dynamics in unsaturated soils, Water Resources Research 43, W07444, doi:10.1029/2006WR005367. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F., F. Mietta and J.C. Winterwerp, (2007), Effect of variable fractal dimension on the floc size distribution of suspended cohesive sediment, Journal of Hydrology, 343(1-2), 43-55, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.05.035. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F., (2007), Variable fractal dimension: A major control for floc structure and flocculation kinematics of suspended cohesive sediment, Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans 112, C07012, 10.1029/2006JC003951. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F., A.J. Manning and J.C. Winterwerp, (2006), Image separation and geometric characterisation of mud flocs, Journal of Hydrology 326(1-4), 325-348, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.11.005. Full manuscript
  • Maggi F. and J.C., Winterwerp, (2004), Method for computing the three-dimensional capacity dimension from two-dimensional projections of fractal aggregates, Physical Review E, 69(1), 011405. Full manuscript

Conference papers

  • Marzachì C., F. Maggi, C. Roggia, D. Bosco, (2009), Effect of changing climatic conditions on chrysanthemum yellows phytoplasma infection, XV Convegno Nazionale, Società Italiana di Patologia Vegetale Locorotondo, Bari, 28 settembre - 1 ottobre 2009.
  • Maggi F. and J.C. Winterwerp, (2004), Geometric characterisation of kaolinite flocs, Proc. of the 9th International Symposium on River Sedimentation, Yichang, China.
  • Mietta F., F. Maggi and J.C. Winterwerp, (2005), Sensitivity to floc breakup functions in a population balance equation for cohesive sediments, INTERCOH2005, Saga, Japan.
  • Maggi F. and J.C. Winterwerp, (2003), An experimental study into the evolution of the size distribution of kaolinite flocs, Proceedings of the 7th INTERCOH conference, Gluocester Point, VA, USA.
  • Maggi F., J.C. Winterwerp, H.L. Fontijn, W.G.M. van Kesteren and J.M. Cornelisse, (2002), A settling column for turbulence-induced flocculation of cohesive sediments, Proceedings of HMEM2002 Conference, Estes Park, Colorado.

Conference abstratcs, poster, presentations

  • Guerry N., Riley W.J., Maggi F., Torn M., Kleber M., (2011), Using a Mechanistic Reactive Transport Model to Represent Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Climate Sensitivity, AGU Fall Meeting 2011, San Francisco, CA, USA
  • Chen P., Yu J., Fettweis M., Van den Eynde D., Maggi F., (2010), Flocculation in a nutrient-rich coastal area (southern North Sea): Measurements and modelling. Poster at AGU Ocean Science Meeting, 22-26 February, Portland (USA).
  • M. Akhavan, P. T. Imhof, S. Andres, S. Finsterle, C. Gu, and F. Maggi, Modeling Hydrologic and Geochemical Aspects of Rapid Infiltration Basins, AGU Fall Meeting 2010, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • Maggi F. and C. Pallud, (2010), Space agriculture: the effect of micro- and hypo-gravity on soil hydraulics and biogeochemistry in a bioregenerative soil-based cropping unit, paper ID 967010, AGU Fall Meeting 2009, San Francisco, CA, USA,.
  • Maggi F. and C. Pallud, Effect of low gravity on water and soil-nutrient-biomass dynamics in a Martian soil-based agricultural plot, Goldschimdt 2010, Knoxville, TN, USA.
  • Maggi F. and W.J. Riley, (2009), Modeling Non-Steady Isotopologue and Isotopomer Speciation and Fractionation during Denitrification in Soils, AGU Fall Meeting 2009, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • Maggi F. and W.J. Riley, (2008), Modeling Non-Steady Isotopic Effects Caused by Biological Kinetic Transient Complexation During Denitrification in Soils, AGU Fall Meeting 2008, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • Maggi F., C. Gu., W.J. Riley, Tianfu Xu and C.M. Oldenburg, (2008), Nitrogen Cycle Modeling: Mechanistic Estimate of N-losses From Agricultural Fields on Seasonal Time Periods, Computational Methods in Water Resources, CMWR2008, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • C. Gu., F. Maggi, W.J.Riley, C.M.Oldenburg, N.Miller, (2008), A Coupled Land Surface-Subsurface Biogeochemical Model for Aqueous and Gaseous Nitrogen Losses Induced by Fertilizer Application, Computational Methods in Water Resources, CMWR2008, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • C. Gu, F. Maggi, W.J. Riley, C.M. Oldenburg (2007), Lime and Soil Moisture Effects on Nitrogen gas Loss Following Fertilizer Application. Poster presentation, AGU Fall Meeting 2007, San Francisco, CA.
  • Riley W.J., F. Maggi, C. Gu, (2007), Mechanistic Representation of the N Isotope Composition of Pools and Fluxes in a Coupled Soil and Plant System: Model Development, Testing, and Application. Poster presentation, AGU Fall Meeting 2007, San Francisco, CA.
  • Maggi F., C. Gu, W.J. Riley, C.M. Oldenburg (2007), Nitrogen Cycle Modeling: a Mechanistic Estimate of N-losses From Agricultural Fields Over the Monthly Time Period. Poster presentation, AGU Fall Meeting 2007, San Francisco, CA.
  • Daly E., J. Juang, M. Siqueira, P. Stoy, F. Maggi, R. Oren, G.G. Katul, A. Porporato, (2006), Subsurface soil CO2 concentration dynamics: data analysis and stochastic modeling. Poster presentation, AGU Fall Meeting 2006.