Elisa Ragno is an Assistant Professor in Statistical Analysis of Hydroclimatic Extremes in the Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk section of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering at Delft University of Technology. Her research focuses on understanding hydroclimatic extremes, their changes, and their interactions to support urban and rural communities in adapting to a changing climate.

Elisa's work involves developing statistical frameworks to analyze floods and droughts, particularly those with significant societal impacts. She applies univariate extreme value analysis under nonstationary assumptions to capture temporal changes in observed extremes and employs probabilistic dependence models, such as copulas, to characterize the joint occurrence of multiple extremes while preserving their dependence structure.

Beyond statistical modeling, Elisa is interested in translating these advanced methods into infrastructure design and risk assessment, exploring how nonstationary distributions and multivariate distribution functions differ from traditional approaches. She also investigates vulnerability quantification, recognizing its pivotal role in developing effective risk reduction strategies.

Elisa Ragno holds an MSc in Structural Civil Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (2012) and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Irvine (2018). In 2018, she was awarded a personal grant for the research project "A Generalized Framework for Quantifying Coastal Flood Risk in Areas with Multiple Flood Drivers." . Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND LEaDing Fellows Postdocs Programme (leadingfellows.eu), the project aimed to enhance the characterization and prediction of compound flooding risk. This research focused on investigating the interplay between flood drivers—such as river discharge and storm surge—and assessing the reliability of man-made infrastructure in coping with extreme events.