Faculty
My research focuses on the synergistic use of remote sensing data exploitation and innovative approaches for computational analyses in Earth and Cryosphere Science and Natural/Anthropogenic Hazard Response. I am particularly interested in analyzing how the new generation of remote sensing instruments are leading to a more effective, near real-time disaster monitoring, assessment and response. These instruments provide greater ability to constrain dynamically changing physical processes, improving our understanding of the Earth’s Environment. My multidisciplinary research, funded by NASA and international space agencies as the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has been applied to Earth science, cryosphere and disaster response. I have published over thirty-two research articles in leading international journals in the field, and several of my research projects have been featured in the popular international press, television and radio, including the New York Times, Fox News, NBC News, PBS, The Guardian, The Independent (UK), Vice, Der Spiegel (Germany), La Repubblica (Italy), Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy), RAI (Italy).
INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- 2017 – 2021 USA Coordinator of an international team of stakeholders (Italian and German Space Agencies) in a >€2 MM/year international satellite measurement campaign to deliver high-resolution coverage of Antarctica and Greenland.
- 2020 – 2021 Member of the UC-Irvine Inclusive Excellence Committee promoting UCI collaborative efforts to make the Earth System Science (ESS) department an anti-racist, diverse, and inclusive department.
- 2019– 2020 Member of the NASA Surface Deformation and Change committee in charge of defining an observing system that would meet the recommendations of the 2017 US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Decadal Survey for developing an affordable synthetic aperture radar-based system.
Invited Presentations / Lectures
- 2019 - Invited Lecture entitled: “The Role of Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry in Science and Applications: From Cryosphere to Infrastructure Monitoring” at the Architecture and Civil Engineering Department of the University of Bath.
- 2018 - Distinguished Lecture in Remote Sensing entitled: “Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica”, Department of Earth System Science - University of California, Irvine.
- 2017 - Distinguished Lecture On the synergistic use of SAR constellations’ data exploitation for Earth Science, Cryosphere and infrastructure monitoring, the lecture has been held at the University of Texas, Austin – Center for Space Research.
- 2017 - Distinguished Lecture in Earth Sciences, Università di Napoli Federico II, DISTAR (Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse), Naples, Italy.
- 2015 - Distinguished lecture in Earth Science entitled: "On the synergistic use of SAR constellations data exploitation for Earth Science", GFZ Potsdam - Germany, September 9, 2015
Scientific Meetings
- 2021 Ka band and broadband communications conference. Technical Committee of the Earth observation session
- 2021 Chairman of the IGARSS 2021 invited session: 'GIS integration of remote sensing data for damage and risk assessment of the built environment' ~5k online participants
- 2017 Chairman of the session Atmosphere/Ionosphere at Fringe, Helsinki ~ 1k participants
- 2017 Chairman of the IGARSS 2017 session SAR and InSAR methods, Austin, Texas, USA ~5k participants
Reviewing and Editorial Activities
- 2018 – present Review panel member for several NASA grants
- 2020 Judge for the AGU Outstanding Student Poster competition
- 2018 – 2020 Editorial Board Special Sessions MDPI Remote Sensing
- 2018 – 2019 Review Board, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation)
- 2016 – 2021 Reviewer for Nature Geosciences, Scientific Reports, Geophysical Research Letters, IEEE JSTARS/GRSL/TGRIS, Remote Sensing of the Environment, Cryosphere, Landslides, International Journal of Remote Sensing
Selected Publications
- Valentina Macchiarulo, Pietro Milillo, Matthew J. DeJong, Javier Gonzalez Martí, Jordi Sanchez, | Giorgia Giardina; Integrated InSAR monitoring and structural assessment of tunnelling-induced building deformations, Structural Control Health Monitoring, DOI: 10.1002/stc.2781, 2021; ISSP e2781, ISSN - 1545-2255; https://doi.org/10.1002/stc.2781, 22 May 2021
- Pietro Milillo, Giorgia Giardina, Daniele Perissin, Giovanni Milillo, Alessandro Coletta, Carlo Terranova, Pre-collapse Space Geodetic Observations of Critical Infrastructures: the Morandi Bridge, Genoa, Italy, Remote Sens. 2019, 11(12), 1403; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11121403 (https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/12/1403),Published: 12 June 2019
- P. Milillo, E. Rignot, P. Rizzoli, B. Scheuchl, J. Mouginot, J. Bueso-Bello and P. Prats-Iraola, Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, Science Advances: Vol. 5, no. 1, eaau3433, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau3433, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau3433, ISSN:2375-2548, 30 Jan 2019
- Giardina G, Milillo P, DeJong MJ, Perissin D, Milillo G. Evaluation of InSAR monitoring data for post‐tunnelling settlement damage assessment. Struct Control Health Monit. 2018;e2285.; 1545-2255 https://doi.org/10.1002/stc.2285; doi:10.1002/stc.2285; 07 December 2018
- Milillo, Pietro & Rignot, E & Mouginot, Jeremie & Scheuchl, Bernd & Morlighem, Mathieu & Li, Xin & T. Salzer, Jacqueline. (2017). On the short-term grounding zone dynamics of Pine Island glacier, West Antarctica observed with COSMO-SkyMed interferometric data: PIG grounding line dynamics. Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2017GL074320. August 31, 2017
- Milillo P, Bürgmann R, Lundgren P, Salzer J, Perissin D, Fielding E, Biondi F, Milillo G; Space geodetic monitoring of engineered structures: e ongoing destabilization of the Mosul dam, Iraq; Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group), vol.6, 37408; doi: 10.1038/srep37408, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep37408, December 6, 2016.
- Milillo, P., Perissin, D., Salzer, J. T., Lundgren, P., Lacava, G., Milillo, G., & Serio, C., Monitoring dam structural health from space: Insights from novel InSAR techniques and multi-parametric modeling applied to the Pertusillo dam Basilicata, Italy. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Vol.52, Pag. 221-229. issn: 1569-8432 Doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2016.06.013, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2016.06.013 , October 2016
- Milillo, P., Riel, B.; Minchew, B.; Yun, S.-H.; Simons, M.; Lundgren, p., "On the Synergistic Use of SAR Constellations’ Data Exploitation for Earth Science and Natural Hazard Response," Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE Journal of , vol.PP, no.9 issue 3, pp.1095-1100, DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2015.2465166, August 26, 2015
- Riel, B., Milillo, P., Simons, M., Lundgren, P., Kanamori, H., & Samsonov, S. (2015). The collapse of Bárdarbunga caldera, Iceland. Geophysical Journal International, 202 (1): 446-453. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggv157, July, 2015
- Milillo, P., Fielding, E. J., Shulz, W. H., Delbridge, B., & Burgmann, R. (2014). COSMO-SkyMed spotlight interferometry over rural areas: The Slumgullion landslide in Colorado, USA. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol.7 issue:7), 2919-2926, DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2014.2345664, August 21, 2014
Please refer to my Google Scholar page for an updated list of publications.