Melissa Latella is a researcher at the CMCC’s Institute for Climate Resilience (ICR), in the Soil and Water Systems (SOWAS) division.
She holds a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, Italy, where she gained a wide range of expertise from geomorphology and hydraulics to geospatial analysis, design and execution of field surveys, programming, and hydraulic modeling. Her thesis focused on integrating different data sources and analysis methods to provide meaningful information for systems’ understanding and as input for eco-morphodynamic models in riparian and coastal areas.

At CMCC, she develops services for modeling soil erosion through Earth Observation and artificial intelligence, while also carrying out activities related to riparian vegetation monitoring. Occasionally, she performs consultancies on river connectivity assessments.
Her main research interests are (1) the mutual interaction among sediments, water, and vegetation across rivers, watersheds, and coastal environments, (2) the use of field and remote sensing and Earth Observation data for monitoring and modeling natural systems, and (3) land degradation and ecosystem restoration.
She advocates networking, open science, and collaboration and is active in several water-related national and international associations.