Annalisa-Manera-portrait

Annalisa Manera

Professor
Home/People/Faculty/Tenure and Tenure Track Faculty/Annalisa Manera

email

manera@umich.edu

Location

2945 Cooley

Phone

(734) 647-2433

Website

Experimental and Computational Multiphase Flow Laboratory (ECMF)

Biography

Manera joined the NERS faculty in 2011 as an Associate Professor and became a full professor in 2017. She is the co-director of the Experimental and Computational Multiphase Flow Laboratory (ECMF) and of the High-Resolution TH Imaging Laboratory. In the two laboratories, fluid-dynamic experiments are performed using in-house advanced state-of-the-art high-resolution experimental techniques such as wire-mesh sensors, gamma-tomography, and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) combined with novel refractive-index matching techniques. The advanced instrumentation allows quantitative imaging of single-phase and multiphase flows in complex geometries and high-pressure systems.

Manera is the principal investigator of the ARPA-E-funded Project SAFARI (Secure Automation for Advanced Reactor Innovation), which is developing AI-enhanced “digital twins” of nuclear reactors for predictive maintenance and autonomous control.

News

Education

  • Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
    PhD Nuclear Engineering ’03
  • The Netherlands
    Diploma Radiation Protection Expert Level III ’01
  • The University of Pisa, Italy
    MSc (with Highest Honors, 110/110 cum laude) Nuclear Engineering ’99

Research Interests

Experimental two-phase flow, thermal-hydraulics, computational fluid dynamics and multiphysics methods for power reactor safety analysis.

Research areas:

Professional Service

  • July 2021 – present: Professor of Nuclear Safety and Multiphase Flows, ETH-Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2017 – present: Professor, Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan
  • 2011 – 2017: Associate Professor, Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan
  • 2007 – 2011:  Head of group  “Systems  Behavior,”  Laboratory  of  Reactor  Physics  and Systems Behavior, Department of Nuclear Energy and Safety, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
  • 2006 – 2007: Scientist (group “Systems Behavior”), Laboratory of Reactor Physics and Systems Behavior, Department of Nuclear Energy and Safety, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
  • 2006 – 2006: Senior Consultant in Nuclear Engineering, Colenco Power Engineering AG, Switzerland
  • April 2005: Visiting Scientist in the Laboratory of Prof. Ishii, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
  • 2004 – 2005:  Scientist  in  the  Department  of  Accident  Analyses,  Institute  of  Safety Research, Research Center Rossendorf e.V. (FZD), Germany
  • May 2003 – Dec 2003:  Researcher  and  ad  interim  responsible  of  Thermal-Hydraulic section, Interfaculty Reactor Institute, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Honors and Awards

  • 2023, American Nuclear Society Fellow
  • 2022, Bal-Raj Sehgal Memorial Award, American Nuclear Society
  • 2018, Excellent Paper Award, 9th World Congress in Industrial Process Tomography
  • 2018 Best Paper Award, International Topical Meeting on Advances in Thermal Hydraulics 2018, ATH-2018
  • 2017, Best Paper Award, 17th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-17)
  • 2017 Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award, University of Michigan
  • 2016 Outstanding Achievement Award, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Michigan
  • 2016, Best Innovation Prize, CFD4NRS conference, MIT, Boston.
  • 2016, DOE CASL Directors’ Award
  • 2016, Finalist (2nd place) for DOE CASL Knight Award
  • 2013, National Academy Kecks Futures Initiative Alumna