Global Influence

Associate Dean Sylvie Lorente joins governing body of the European Research Council

Sylvie Lorente, PhD, associate dean for Research and Innovation, has joined the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC). As one of 22 distinguished members of the ERC’s governing body, Dr. Lorente will help set the scientific strategy for the organization, which provides funding for groundbreaking research conducted within the European Union.

Dr. Lorente was appointed to her initial four-year term by the European Commission, with her mandate beginning July 1, 2022.

“The raison d’être of the ERC is to fund exclusively bottom-up basic research without privileging any particular domain,” Dr. Lorente says. “I am thrilled and honored to join the scientific committee of a research body that favors ambitious creativity this way.”

An expert in thermal engineering, Dr. Lorente joined Villanova in 2019 and holds the position of College of

Engineering Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She is also a professor (exceptional class) at the National Institute of Applied Sciences, University of Toulouse, France, where she earned her PhD in 1996.

Dr. Lorente is recognized internationally for her deep research expertise in flow systems. She is the author of seven books, 10 book chapters and more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, and she is among the top 2% of the most cited scientists in the world.

“This appointment is a tremendous international recognition of the outstanding contributions made to the field of engineering by Dr. Lorente,” says Michele Marcolongo, PhD, PE, the Drosdick Endowed Dean of Engineering.

Established by the European Union in 2007, the ERC provides competitive funding to encourage high-quality research in Europe and support investigator-driven research across all fields. Its Scientific Council includes eminent scientists and scholars who promote innovative research on behalf of Europe’s scientific community.