Photo of Roberto Fernández

Roberto Fernández

Assistant Professor

Affiliation(s):

  • Civil and Environmental Engineering

279 ECoRE Building

roberto@psu.edu

Research Areas:

Water Resources Engineering

 
 

 

Education

  • Lic., Ingeniería Civil, Universidad de Costa Rica, 2008
  • MSc, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012
  • PhD, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Alice Lefebvre, Rachel Bosch, Katy Burrows, Matthieu Giaime, Guillaume Goodwin, Larry Syu-Heng Lai, Melanie Stammler and Roberto Fernández, 2025, "Geomorphica: The most accessible journal for the geomorphology community", Geomorphica
  • Jason T.-Y. Lin, Esteban Lacunza, Roberto Fernández, Marcelo H. Garcia, Bruce Rhoads, Jim Best, Jessica Z LeRoy and Gary Parker, 2025, "Hydrodynamic Processes of Incipient Meander Chute Cutoffs: Laboratory Experiments With Implications for Morphodynamics and Depth-Averaged Modeling", Water Resources Research
  • Jonathan Malarkey, Ellen M Pollard, Roberto Fernández, Xuxu Wu, Jaco H Baas and Daniel R Parsons, 2024, "Effect of bed clay on surface water-wave reconstruction from ripples", Scientific Reports
  • Catherine E Russell, Florian Pohl and Roberto Fernández, 2024, "Plastic as a Sediment – A Universal and Objective practical solution to growing ambiguity in plastic litter classification schemes", Earth-Science Reviews
  • Xuxu Wu, Jonathan Malarkey, Roberto Fernández, Jaco H Baas, Ellen Pollard and Daniel R Parsons, 2024, "Influence of cohesive clay on wave–current ripple dynamics captured in a 3D phase diagram", Earth Surface Dynamics
  • Catherine Russell, Roberto Fernández, Daniel R Parsons and Sarah Gabbott, 2023, "Plastic pollution in riverbeds fundamentally affects natural sand transport processes", Communications Earth & Environment
  • Marijke G.W. de Vet, Roberto Fernández, Jaco H Baas, William D McCaffrey and Robert M Dorrell, 2023, "Streamwise turbulence modulation in non-uniform open-channel clay suspension flows", Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
  • Sojiro Fukuda, Marijke G.W. de Vet, Edward W.G. Skevington, Elena Bastianon, Roberto Fernández, Xuxu Wu, William D McCaffrey, Hajime Naruse, Daniel R Parsons and Robert M Dorrell, 2023, "Inadequacy of fluvial energetics for describing gravity current autosuspension", Nature Communications, 14, (2288)
  • Freija Mendrik, Roberto Fernández, Chris Hackney, Catherine Waller and Daniel R Parsons, 2023, "Non-buoyant microplastic settling velocity varies with biofilm growth and ambient water salinity", Communications Earth & Environment
  • Xuxu Wu, Roberto Fernández, Jaco H Baas, Jonathan Malarkey and Dan R Parsons, 2022, "Discontinuity in Equilibrium Wave-Current Ripple Size and Shape and Deep Cleaning Associated With Cohesive Sand-Clay Beds", Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface, 127, (9)
  • Roberto Fernández and Gary Parker, 2021, "Laboratory observations on meltwater meandering rivulets on ice", Earth Surface Dynamics
  • Roberto Fernández, Alejandro Vitale, Gary Parker and Marcelo H Garcia, 2020, "Hydraulic Resistance in Mixed Bedrock-Alluvial Meandering Channels", Journal of Hydraulic Research
  • Roberto Fernández, Gary Parker and Colin P Stark, 2019, "Experiments on patterns of alluvial cover and bedrock erosion in a meandering channel", Earth Surface Dynamics
  • Roberto Fernández, Marcelo H Garcia and Gary Parker, 2018, "Upper Mississippi River Flow and Sediment Characteristics and Their Effect on a Harbor Siltation Case", Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 144, (10)
  • Roberto Fernández and Marcelo H Garcia, 2017, "Input Variable Sensitivity Assessment for Sediment Transport Relations", Water Resources Research, 53, (9), pp. 8105-8119
  • Roberto Fernández and Alejandro Navas, 2012, "Pervious Concrete: Mixture design to assess its uniaxial compressive strength and permeability [In Spanish]", Road Infrastructure, 13, (24), pp. 40-49

Research Projects

Honors and Awards

  • Harry West Teaching Award, Harry West, April 2023 - March 2024
  • Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship, Leverhulme Trust, September 2020 - September 2022

Service

Service to Penn State:

  • Contributions to Programs to Enhance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Committee Member, PSU, DEIB and Outreach Committee, August 2024
  • Participation in Recruitment and Retention Activities, Committee Member, PSU, DEIB and Outreach Committee, August 2024
  • Participation in Recruitment and Retention Activities, Participant, Interviews for Accessibility Expert, PSU, May 2024 - May 2024
  • Committee Work, Committee Member, Faculty Search in Environmental Engineering, December 2023 - May 2024
  • Committee Work, Committee Member, Safety Committee, August 2023
  • Committee Work, Committee Member, CEE Seminar Series, August 2022 - July 2023

Service to External Organizations:

  • Service to Public and Private Organizations, Organizer, AGU EPSP Connects Webinar Series, 2021
  • Service to Public and Private Organizations, Chairperson, Steering committee of Geomorphica, an upcoming Diamond Open Access Journal in Geomorphology, 2020
  • Other, Chairperson, AGU, EPSP Connects, September 2024