Prof. Massimiliano Ferronato was born in Camposampiero, Italy.

After graduating in Civil Engineering at the University of Padova (Italy) in 1998 he became a Professional Engineer. In November 1999 he got the Master degree in Maritime and Coastal Engineering. On March 23rd, 2003, he got the Ph.D. degree at the Technology University of Delft (The Netherlands) defending a thesis entitled: "Rock expansion and compaction at the marker scale in gas producing reservoirs", with Prof. Arnold Verruijt and Prof. Giuseppe Gambolati as advisors.

In 2003 he joined as a Post-Doc scholar the Department of Mathematical Methods and Models for Scientific Application (DMMMSA) of the University of Padova (Italy) and in 2008 was appointed Assistant Professor in Numerical Analysis.

He has authored and co-authored more than 70 scientific articles published in international journals and proceedings of international conferences on numerical and application-oriented issues. The main research interests concern the mechanics of porous media, both saturated and unsaturated, with specific applications in subsurface hydraulics and petroleum engineering.