John D. Albertson

Biography

John Albertson is a Professor of CEE at Cornell University. Albertson joined the Cornell faculty in July of 2015, arriving from Duke University where he was department chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He did his undergraduate work at SUNY Buffalo and received his BS in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in structures in 1985. He then practiced as a professional structural engineer for six years in the electric power industry. During that time he earned an MBA (Finance) at the University of Hartford and also earned his Professional Engineers license (CT). In 1991 he left industry to return to academia, earning a Masters in Hydrology from Yale University in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Hydrologic Science at the University of California, Davis in 1996.  In 1996 he joined the faculty of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. In 2002 he moved to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, where he worked until summer of 2015. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Cork (Ireland), the University of Cagliari (Italy), the University of Padova (Italy), and EURAC (Italy).

Research Interests

Albertson's work is generally directed toward the development of a comprehensive understanding of the exchange rates of mass (e.g. water, CO2, pollutants), energy, and momentum between the land and atmosphere. Primary applications of his work are in hydrometeorology and air quality. He is particularly focused on the fusion of measurements and models for optimal prediction. More details can be found on his lab website linked below.

• Fluid Dynamics and Rheology
• Energy and the Environment
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Heat and Mass transfer
• Remote Sensing
• Scientific Computing
• Sensors and Actuators
• Signal and Image Processing
• Sustainable Energy Systems
• Water Systems
• Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology