Nicola Tisato

I was born and raised in Italy in a wonderful town near Venice. Schio, my hometown, rests at the foot of "Piccole Dolomiti" (Small Dolomites). I love mountains; I was a boy-scout from 9 to 23 years old and since 1996 I am a caver - and by the way: Austin is great for caving! I am passionate about photography, especially about 3D photography. Since 2009 I am a member of La Salle-3D that is an international group of photographers. I like riding my mountain-bike along alpine tracks, and when the tracks are covered by snow, I love practicing cross-country skiing - but not in Austin...
When I was a teenager I spent more time in the garage "inventing" and "experimenting" rather than in front of books...
During high school, I studied electrical and automation engineering. Between 1999 and 2000 I was a policeman to fulfill the Italian compulsory military service. After that, and until 2004, I was an insurance agent. Meanwhile, the passion for mountains, caves and science was pushing me towards college. In October 2001, I started my Bachelor in Geology and I loved it! I graduated in December 2004. Meanwhile, after an internship, TecnoPenta srl offered me a position as technician. I worked for TecnoPenta srl between 2005 and 2009 and this experience allowed me to perfect my knowledge about laboratory and field measurements in geosciences.
I started my Master studies in October 2005. I graduated in October 2008 with a thesis in experimental rock physics studying static and dynamic friction in limestones. I had the honor of being supervised by Dr. Giulio Di Toro.
In March 2009 I started my PhD in Zurich (CH) and I had again the honor of having a great supervisor: Dr. Luigi Burlini. Sadly, Luigi passed away in December 2009, after a long disease, and my supervision was overtaken by Dr. Erik Saenger and Dr. Jean-Pierre Burg. I graduated in April 2013 with a thesis on rock physics, treating the attenuation of seismic waves in saturated sedimentary rocks.
Meanwhile, I met Dr. Giovanni Grasselli who offered for me to join his research group at the University of Toronto (UofT). In 2014 and 2015 I was a post-doc at the Department of Civil Eng. of UofT. During this time I learned how to use and maintain X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) apparatus and I paired micro-CT with classic rock-physics and -mechanics experiments.
On April 10th, 2014 I became father of a wonderful girl: Beatrice.
In January 2016 - together with my family that on March 23rd, 2017 grew with the addition of awesome Serena - I started my new adventure in Austin, and I am happy and honored to be here!

Together with his research group, Nicola has created the Rock Deformation Laboratory at UT Austin and he is proud to be a member of the ROCKETH-science - Rock Physics Network.

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By the way, if you like to know more about my research you could watch:

-CIG Geodynamics FRIDAY APRIL 21, 2023 @1P PDT, Nicola Tisato, Capturing co-seismic fault deformation and pseudotachylyte formation to unveil earthquake physics

-ARMA University of Toronto Student Chapter, OCTOBER 12, 2021, Nicola Tisato, Attenuation of seismic waves

-UT Center for Planetary Systems Habitability, May 27, 2020, Nicola Tisato and Carole Lakrout, The Biotic Influence on Speleothem Morphology

and if you like caves here is a nice and short video show.
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- Here a paper about attenuation of seismic waves and wave-induced-fluid-flow (WIFF);
- Here a paper about attenuation of seismic waves and wave-induced gas-exsolution-dissolution (WIGED);
- Here a paper about physical properties of clays;
- Here a paper about dynamic friction in rocks;
- Here a paper about pairing rotary shear experiment with micro-CT;
- Here a paper about spectacular mineral cave deposits whose formation is orchestrated by bacteria;
- Here a paper about speleogenesis.