Biography

Dr. Tuttolomondo graduated with the highest distinction from University of Palermo (Italy), earning a Master of Science in Civil Engineering with a focus on structures and geotechnics in July 2016, achieving a score of 110/110 cum laude. As part of the Master's curriculum, she conducted research at University College Dublin, which culminated in a thesis entitled “Cohesive frictional materials: comparison between discrete formulation and mesoscale modelling”. 

In February 2021, she successfully defended her Ph.D. in Geomechanics at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a PhD thesis entitled “Effective stress for unsaturated active clays and in-situ effective stress estimation methodology”. During her doctoral studies, she focused on several areas including the mechanical modelling of active clays and other geomaterials under both saturated and unsaturated conditions, the theoretical prediction of fluid pressures and mechanical behaviour in unsaturated geomaterials under undrained conditions, and in-situ stress state estimations. Her research was notably supported by Nagra, the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste.

Following her Ph.D., she embarked on a postdoctoral journey where she engaged in a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funded project named “New insights in the analysis and prediction of the mechanical behavior of compacted expansive clays as engineered barriers”. Also, she worked on scale effect assessments for geomechanical modelling. Concurrently, she ventured into entrepreneurial activities, focusing on a start-up project focusing on a new in-situ stress estimation technology for geo-energy applications (InSituStreTech project). 

Since November 2022, she has been employed by Gruner SA as a geotechnical engineer. She continues her academic work at the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics at EPFL, where she supervises two Ph.D. students and two scientific assistants, furthering research and development in geomechanics. 

She has been awarded various innovation grants, including the ENAC Innovation Seed Grant, the Design and Prototype Grant, and the NTN Innovation Grant. Additionally, she has received the Venture Kick Phase 1 and the Innosuisse Initial Coaching. 
She serves as the Swiss representative for the Technical Committee TC-308 “Energy Geotechnics” of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. 

Mission

Her mission is to provide support in addressing geomechanical challenges for geo-energy applications, with the goal of bridging the gap between scientific research and engineering practice.