Umberto Desideri is full professor of Thermal Machines at the University of Pisa. After earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Florence in 1988, he achieved a PhD in Energy Engineering in 1993. His academic career has been at the University of Perugia from 1992 to 2014 and at the University of Pisa since 2014. During his academic career he has also funded two spin-off companies.
Member of the Editorial Board of a number of International Scientific Journals and is Senior Editor of Applied Energy. He is member of the scientific committee of international conferences. and a Fellow Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
He is and has been principal investigator and coordinator of over 20 scientific projects funded by the EU and the Italian national and regional governments and others by private companies.
His research topics are: Innovative and high efficiency fossil fired power generation systems,
Renewable energy systems such as geothermal, thermal and concentrated solar power, PV, biomass to energy systems, Hydrogen and fuel cells, Energy storage with chemical and thermal processes including power to gas and power to fuel technologies, Energy saving in commercial and office buildings, CHP and CCHP, LCA (Life cycle assessment) and carbon footprint studies