CURRICULUM VITAE¶
Robert Lanzafame, Ph.D., P.E.
Senior Lecturer, Civil Engineer
Relocated to California, in August, 2025 (San Francisco Bay Area).
The easiest way to contact me is via LinkedIn (linkedin
EDUCATION¶
University of California, Berkeley, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
| 2012-2017 | Ph.D. Geosystems: Reliability Analysis of the Influence of Vegetation on Levee Performance |
| 2011-2012 | MS Geosystems |
| 2004-2008 | BS Civil and Environmental Engineering |
ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE¶
| 2018-2025 | Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Civil Engineering and Geosciences Faculty Hydraulic Engineering Department Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk Section 9/2021-8/2025: Senior Lecturer 9/2018-8/2021: Lecturer |
| 2018 | Post-doctoral researcher, UC Berkeley 1/2018-5/2018; extended PhD-research |
| 2012-2017 | Graduate student researcher (PhD) and Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley. |
| 2012, 2013 | Staff Engineer, GEI Consultants, Oakland, CA (summer). |
| 2008-2011 | Staff Engineer, DCM Engineering/GeoEngineers, Walnut Creek, CA. |
| 2000-2008 | Laborer during flood season, Reclamation District 1607, Van Sickle Island, CA. |
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS AND CONTINUING EDUCATION¶
| 2023 | Leading a Project or Team Training; TU Delft/TwynstraGudde (~40 hours) |
| 2022 | Short course: Designing an Online Course TU Delft Style (20 hours). |
| 2021 | University Teaching Qualification (Netherlands certificate program; 160 hours) |
| 2012-present | Licensed Professional Civil Engineer, California (No. 80001) |
| Dutch Language: professional proficient (Level C1/C2) |
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS¶
Corresponding Member, Technical Committee TC306 Geo-education, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
ASCE Member
AWARDS¶
| 2024 | Nominated, SURF Onderwijsawards 2024 (SURF Education Award) |
| 2022-23 | Nominated, Education Team Award (entire University), MUDE Module. |
| The following Delft awards are student-nominated (out of ~600 academic staff). | |
| 2023-24 | 1st place, Best Teacher: Environmental Engineering Program Core/MUDE |
| 2023-24 | 1st place, Best Teacher: Civil Engineering Program Core/MUDE |
| 2022-23 | 2nd place, Best Teacher: Program Core/MUDE Modules. |
| 2022-23 | 2nd place, Best Teaching Team: Structural Eng. and Waste Eng. Tracks. |
| The following Delft awards are student-nominated (out of ~50 academic staff). | |
| 2021-22 | Best Teacher of Hydraulic Engineering |
| 2021-22 | 2nd place, Best Teacher Construction Management Engineering. |
| 2020-21 | Best Teacher of Hydraulic Engineering. |
| 2017-18 | Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley. |
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS AND PROJECTS¶
| 2023-2025 | Module Manager: Modelling, Uncertainty and Data for Engineers 12 ECTS module, all 1st-year MS students in CEG department (~300). Teaching team: 20 instructors, 10 student assistants, collaborators across dept. |
| 2024 | Created TeachBooks initiative (T. van Woudenberg, co-creator) Software and teacher support for creation and use of online books in education. https:// |
| 11/2024 | Delivered Workshop, India Institute of Technology, Madras Invited to give 3-day workshop to guide set up of MS module similar to MUDE. |
| 2024 | Collaborator and Co-Lead: Software and Jupyter Books for use in Education Granted ~€50,000 from CEG faculty and University for projects throughout year. |
| 2023 | Reviewer, Faculty Representative for TU Delft Open Education Stimulation Fund _Invited based on past experience with open education projects. |
| 2023 | Project lead: Jupyter Book Project, CEG faculty Granted €10,000 (unsolicited) by faculty to support and coordinate development of interactive digital textbook for several open edu. project teams, with TA. |
| 2023 | Project lead: Open edu resource development Obtained €9,000 grant from CEG faculty to further develop open online courses on 1) applied probability and statistics and 2) Python, adapted to digital textbook. |
| 2021-22 | Project lead: open-access online education resources for probabilistic applications. Obtained €27,000 grant from CEG faculty to develop open online courses on 1) applied probability and statistics for civil engineers, and 2) Python. |
| 2020-22 | MS Curriculum Redesign, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences Design team member and project lead for numerous modules and courses as part of a complete revision of all courses within the 2-year MS programs (3 degree programs: Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Applied Earth Sciences). |
| 2020 | Collaborator: Online Education Resource Program with TU Dresden, Germany. Coordinated sharing of teaching resources; Hydraulic Engineering Departments. |
| 2/2020 | Supervisor and invited expert: 2019 Hurricane Dorian Build Back Better, The Bahamas. Supervised multidisciplinary student project teams from TU Delft and the University of the Bahamas; advised local authorities on flood risk and flood protection measures. |
| 2019-2025 | Graduation coordinator: Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk Section, TU Delft. Advised and checked courses and thesis committee members, MS students. |
| 2019-2021 | Graduation coordinator: Department of Hydraulic Engineering, TU Delft. Advised and checked courses and thesis committee members, MS students. |
| 2019-2021 | International intake coordinator: Department of Hydraulic Engineering, TU Delft. Reviewed and made admissions decisions on incoming international MS students. |
TEACHING EXPERIENCE¶
| 2023-2025 | Probabilistic Modelling of Real-World Phenomena |
| 2022-2025 | CEGM1000 Modelling, Uncertainty and Data for Engineers (12 ECTS module) |
| 2022-2025 | Responsible lecturer, Probabilistic Design Unit (3 ECTS unit) |
| 2022-23 | CIEM4220 Dikes, Dams and Breakwaters (15 ECTS module) |
| 2022-23 | CIEM3220 River Engineering (15 ECTS module) |
| 2022-2025 | Probability and Statistics for Engineers (develop and maintain online open course) |
| 2022-2025 | Python for Engineers (develop and maintain online open course) |
| 2018-2022 | Lecturer, Responsible Instructor and Coordinator for 3 courses: - CIE4130 Probabilistic Design, 4 ECTS, 300-380 students. - CME4130 Probabilistic Design Practical, 2 ECTS, ~50 students - CIE5314-19 Flood Defenses, 4 ECTS, 40 students. |
2012-2017 Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley:
CE 281 Engineering Geology, 3 units, 23 students.
L&S 70C Living on the Edge, 4 units, 151 students.
CE 176 Environmental Geotechnics, 3 units, 12 students.
CE 270 Advanced Geomechanics, 3 units, ~30 students.
CE 174 Engineering Geomatics, 3 units, 15 students.
EPS 3 The Water Planet, 3 units, 196 students.
EPS 117 Geomorphology, 4 units, 43 students.
CE 176 Environmental Geotechnics, 3 units, 15 students..
CE 270 Advanced Geomechanics, 3 units, 23 students.
SUPERVISION AND MENTORING¶
All supervision is at TU Delft, 2018-2025, unless noted otherwise.
| 51 students | MS thesis project; supervisor and committee member (assessor). Four awards received by students for thesis reports or associated publication. |
| 21 students | BS thesis project; supervisor and committee member (assessor). |
| 8 groups | MS Multidisciplinary project, 4-5 students, 10 ECTS; supervisor and assessor. |
| 2 groups | Computer Science Software Project, 5-6 students; 15 ECTS; supervisor/client. |
| 6 students | Internships, 10 ECTS; assessor. |
| 2 student | PhD Go/No-go meeting (qualifying exam after 1 year); assessor. |
| ~60 | Student assistants, main task: development of course material; direct supervisor. |
| 2021-2025 | DeltaDenker Bachelor Minor Program Field Trip, 1 day; co-coordinator. |
| 2019 | Hydraulic Engineering Student Association Field Trip, 4 days; faculty supervisor. |
| 2015-2016 | Undergraduate Researcher, Ph.D. research assistant at UC Berkeley; supervisor. |
RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES¶
| 2021-2025 | Coordinator for TU Delft, Delft Reliability Exchange, Netherlands. Knowledge exchange between TU Delft, Deltares and TNO to share new approaches and challenges for application of structural reliability in practice. |
| 2021-2022 | Co-investigator, Dynamic Testing of Human Stability to Wave Overtopping. Internal inter-faculty university grant, €15,000. |
| 4/2021 | Co-convener, European Geophysical Union General Assembly. Recent innovations and advances in flood modeling, assessment and risk management (vPICO session NH1.1) |
| 2020-2025 | Administrator and researcher, International Levee Performance Database. Responsible for communication, maintenance of database, identifying new case studies, procure future funding. Website: leveefailures |
| 7/2020 | Volunteer, Redders van Dordt, Dordrecht, Netherlands. City-sponsored program to educate Dutch primary school children about flood risk and emergency response. Students built rafts and practiced water evacuation. |
| 2020-2023 | Participant, Polder2C’s Project, Hedwige-Prosperpolder, Netherlands/Belgium. Interreg project focused on flood risk and climate change adaptation along the North Sea and English Channel; collaborators in UK, NL, BE, FR. |
INVITED PRESENTATIONS¶
| 29/3/2025 | Modernizing the Engineering Curriculum: Bringing Programming into the Classroom with Online Interactive Textbooks International Webinar Series on Geoenvironmental Engineering, Sustainability, and Resiliency. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15058449 🔗 Link: Lanzafame (2025) Recording: youtube.com/watch?v=VALeVvSbtYg |
| 4/3/2025 | TeachBooks Workshop: Implement your Ideas Now! Workshop During Open Education Week, TU Delft. doi:10.5281/zenodo.14965083 🔗 Link: Lanzafame & Woudenberg (2025) |
| 4/3/2025 | Teachers Empowering Teachers: Finding and Reusing Online Edu. Resources Workshop During Open Education Week, TU Delft. doi:10.5281/zenodo.14964995 🔗 Link: Lanzafame & Várkonyi (2025) |
| 11/2024 | Workshop for Engineering Instructors at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Taught innovative approaches in education, computing and online book software to ~30 educators. Developed 3 day workshop, delivered with two colleagues. https:// |
| 29/5/2024 | Online Interactive Textbooks and Programming in Education Lunch Presentation, Civil Engineering and Geosciences Faculty, TU Delft. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10879004 🔗 Link: Woudenberg & Lanzafame (2024) |
| 26/3/2024 | Enhancing Student Experience While Modernizing the Curriculum Meet and Eat Lunch Lecture, TU Delft Teaching Lab. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10879193 🔗 Link: Lanzafame et al. (2024) |
| 14/3/2024 | Using Python in your interactive textbook, immediate and with feedback! Python4All Workshop, TU Delft Teaching Lab (Freek Pols, organizer). doi:10.5281/zenodo.10848458 🔗 Link: Woudenberg & Lanzafame (2024) |
| 4/3/2024 | The MUDE Book and what it led to Online Interactive Textbooks Symposium, TU Delft Library. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10879004 🔗 Link: Woudenberg & Lanzafame (2024) |
| 11/2023 | Jupyter Books in Education at Civil Engineering & Geosciences Lunch presentation to University-wide Open Interactive Textbooks collaboration. |
| 2022 | Introduction to flood defenses and animal burrowing field exercise. Lecture and field activity for Polder2C’s Late Summer School; 15 MS/PhD level. |
| 2021 | Introduction to flood defenses. Lecture and educational activity for Polder2C’s Winter School. Online, 15 MS and PhD level participants. |
| 2019 | Improving the reliability of flood defense systems through a better understanding of failure mechanisms. Represented Dutch universities at Joint Workshop of the State of Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) and the Netherlands on Future strategies for Flood Risk Management. |
| 12/2018 | Flood defense levees: a perspective from California. Hydraulic Engineering Department Symposium, TU Delft. |
| 2016 | Incremental risk of levee failure due to vegetation and animal burrowing. Association of Engineering Geologists Student Night, Oakland, CA. |
JOURNAL AND CONFERENCE PUBLICATION REVIEWER¶
Geotechnical Engineering Education 2025 Conference: International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Environmental Geotechnics
Georisk: Assessment and Management of Risk for Engineered Systems and Geohazards
31st European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL), 2021.
ONLINE TEXTBOOKS¶
Lanzafame, R. C. (2024). Risk and Reliability for Engineers. TU Delft OPEN Publishing. doi:10.59490/tb.89
🔗 Link here
Lanzafame, R., van Woudenberg, T., Verhagen, S. (2024), Modelling, Uncertainty and Data for Engineers (MUDE) Textbook, Delft University of Technology. https://
🔗 Link here
Lanzafame, R., Verhagen, S., Alvarenga, G., Farahat, A., Mendoza Lugo, M. (2025), Python for Engineers. https://
🔗 Link here
van Woudenberg, T. R., Lanzafame, R. C., Kirsch, J. A. A., Jungbacker, C. A. A., Pols, C. F. J., den Ouden-van der Horst, D., & Slingerland, I. C. (2024). TeachBooks Manual. GitHub. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15100848
🔗 Link here
JOURNAL PAPERS¶
Mares Nasarre, P., van Boldrik, N., Bakker, E., Lanzafame, R., & Morales Napoles, O. (2025). Unlocking Student Choices: Assessing Student Preferences in Courses in Engineering Education. Education Sciences, 15(7), Article 859. doi:10.3390/educsci.15070859
🔗 Link: Mares-Nasarre et al. (2025)
Keirsebelik, H., Tsimopoulou, V., Lanzafame, R., Van Putte, N., Koelewijn, A., Rikkert, S., De Kleyn, T., Schoelynck, J. (2024). Assessing the extent and connectivity of animal burrows using smoke: a practical tool for levee inspections. Journal of Coastal and Riverine Flood Risk , 3. doi:10.59490/jcrfr.2024.0012
🔗 Link: Keirsebelik et al. (2024)
Reinders, K., Pouliasis, G., Lanzafame, R., & Morales, O. (2020). Evaluating the Test-Expectancy Effect in a Graduate Engineering Course. [Unpublished manuscript]. Civil Engineering and Geosciences Faculty, Delft University of Technology.
Lanzafame, R., & Sitar, N. (2019). Reliability analysis of the influence of seepage on levee stability. Environmental Geotechnics, 6(5), 284-293.
TECHNICAL REPORTS¶
Tsimopoulou, V., Koelewijn, A., Lanzafame, R., Rikkert, S., Aljer, A., Nguyen, S. Karaoulis, M., Idsinga, J., Kieftenburg, A. (2023) Management of harmful animal activities on levees: Fact finding fieldwork in the Living Lab Hedwige-Prosperpolder, Polder2C’s Project, Interreg European Regional Development Fund. https://
Lanzafame, R. & Sitar, N. (2018). Reliability analysis of the influence of vegetation on levee performance, California Levee Vegetation Research Program, Department of Water Resources, Sacramento, CA.
Cohen-Waeber, J., Lanzafame, R., & Bray, J. (2014). Section 4: Effects of Surface Fault Rupture on Infrastructure, Geotechnical Engineering Reconnaissance of the August 24, 2014 M6 South Napa Earthquake. In J. D. Bray, J. Cohen-Waeber, T. Dawson, T. Kishida & N. Sitar (Eds.), GEER Association Report No. GEER--037 (Vol. Version 2).
CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS¶
Lanzafame, R., van Woudenberg, T. (2024). Online interactive textbooks: creating a book and using it with your students is easier than you think - we’ll prove it! SURF Onderwijsdagen, Den Haag, Netherlands, doi:10.5281/zenodo.14068656
🔗 Link: Lanzafame & Woudenberg (2024)
Wüthrich D., Rikkert, S. J., & Lanzafame, R. (2023). Human Stability on Slopes Under Overtopping Waves. Coastal Engineering Proceedings, (37), Wüthrich et al. (2023)
Shields, D. & Lanzafame, R. (2022). Ensuring that Green Is Not Unfairly Penalized: Quantifying Effects of Trees on Levee Reliability. Poster presented at 20th River Restoration Northwest Symposium, Stevenson, WA.
Lanzafame, R., Timmermans, M., Orlin, F., Valls, S., & Morales, O. (2021). Probabilistic design for civil engineering infrastructure using vine-copulas. Paper presented at the 31st European Safety and Reliability Conference, Angers, France.
Lanzafame, R. & Sitar, N. (2017). Reliability analysis of levee performance including vegetation effects, Presentation at Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA.
Lanzafame, R., Teng, H., & Sitar, N. (2017). Stochastic Analysis of Levee Stability Subject to Variable Seepage Conditions. Paper presented at the Geo-Risk 2017: Reliability-Based Design and Code Developments, Denver, CO.
Cohen-Waeber, J., Lanzafame, R., Bray, J., & Sitar, N. (2015). The Performance of Structures Subjected to Surface Fault Rupture during the Mw 6.0 South Napa Earthquake, California, USA. Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Mathy, D., Lanzafame, R., Adams, W., & Gallyer, S. (2012). Guided Boring and the Lafayette-Pleasant Hill Road Trunk Sewer. Paper presented at the North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT) No-Dig Show 2012, Nashville, TN.
SOFTWARE AND PROGRAMMING RESOURCES¶
Lanzafame, R. (2024) Modelling, Uncertainty and Data for Engineers (MUDE) Files. https://
🔗 Link here
TeachBooks Development Team. (2025). TeachBooks Package. GitHub/Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15168077
🔗 Link here
- Lanzafame, R. (2025). Modernizing the Engineering Curriculum: Bringing Programming into the Classroom with Online Interactive Textbooks. 10.5281/ZENODO.15058449
- Lanzafame, R., & van Woudenberg, T. (2025). TeachBooks Workshop: Implement your Ideas Now! 10.5281/ZENODO.14965083
- Lanzafame, R., & Várkonyi, M. (2025). Teachers Empowering Teachers: Finding and Reusing Online Educational Resources. 10.5281/ZENODO.14964995
- van Woudenberg, T., & Lanzafame, R. (2024). The MUDE Book and what it led to. 10.5281/ZENODO.10879004
- Lanzafame, R., van Woudenberg, T., & Verhagen, S. (2024). Enhancing Student Experience While Modernizing the Curriculum. 10.5281/ZENODO.10879193
- van Woudenberg, T., & Lanzafame, R. (2024). Programming in MUDE. 10.5281/ZENODO.10848458
- Mares-Nasarre, P., van Boldrik, N., Bakker, E., Lanzafame, R., & Morales-Nápoles, O. (2025). Unlocking Student Choices: Assessing Student Preferences in Courses in Engineering Education. Education Sciences, 15(7), 859. 10.3390/educsci15070859
- Keirsebelik, H., Tsimopoulou, V., Lanzafame, R., Van Putte, N., Koelewijn, A., Rikkert, S., De Kleyn, T., & Schoelynck, J. (2024). Assessing the extent and connectivity of animal burrows using smoke: a practical tool for levee inspections. Journal of Coastal and Riverine Flood Risk, 3. 10.59490/jcrfr.2024.0012
- Lanzafame, R., & van Woudenberg, T. (2024). Online interactive textbooks: creating a book and using it with your students is easier than you think - we’ll prove it! 10.5281/ZENODO.14068656
- Wüthrich, D., Rikkert, S. J. H., & Lanzafame, R. (2023). HUMAN STABILITY ON SLOPES UNDER OVERTOPPING WAVES. Coastal Engineering Proceedings, 37, 129. 10.9753/icce.v37.management.129