Sybil Derrible (born 1983) is a French American engineer, educator, and author. He specializes in urban engineering, infrastructure sustainability, and system resilience. He is Director of the Complex and Sustainable Urban Networks (CSUN) Laboratory and Professor in the Department of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering at the

University of Illinois Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

. He authored the textbook ''Urban Engineering for Sustainability'' published by

MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...

in 2019 and the popular science book ''The Infrastructure Book: How Cities Work and Power Our Lives'' published by

Prometheus Books Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz (who was also the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). The publ ...

in 2025. He is Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Lead Author for the energy chapter of

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

’s Seventh Global Environmental Outlook.

Personal life and education

Derrible was born and raised in Saint Pierre, part of the France-owned archipelago of

Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon ( ), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canada, Canadian prov ...

, in

Northern America Northern America is the northernmost subregion of North America, as well as the northernmost region in the Americas. The boundaries may be drawn significantly differently depending on the source of the definition. In one definition, it lies dir ...

. He credits his background, growing up on a small archipelago, for his system-of-systems, multi-infrastructure research focus. Derrible received his undergraduate and M.Eng. degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

in 2006. While at Imperial College London, he spent a year at the École Centrale of Lyon to study

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

as part of the Erasmus program. He received his Ph.D. in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 2010. He was Visiting Research Fellow at the Singapore-

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

Alliance for Research and Technology in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

before joining the

in 2012. He lives in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

with his family.

Career

Derrible joined the University of Illinois Chicago in 2012 as Assistant Professor. He received tenure and became Associate Professor in 2017. He was promoted to Professor in 2023. His main appointment is in the Department of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering. He also holds a joint appointment at the Institute of Environmental Science and Policy and a courtesy appointment in the Department of Computer Science. In 2019, Derrible spent six months in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

during a sabbatical and was Visiting Professor at the University of Transport Technology in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

. Derrible has authored/co-authored over one hundred scientific articles. He studies infrastructure systems as complex, interdependent, and interrelated, promoting principles of

livability Livability or liveability is the degree to which a place is good for living. Livability refers to the concerns that are related to the long-term Well-being, wellbeing of individuals and communities. It encompasses factors like neighborhood ameniti ...

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

, and

resilience Resilience, resilient, or resiliency may refer to: Science Ecology * Ecological resilience, the capacity of an ecosystem to recover from perturbations ** Climate resilience, the ability of systems to recover from climate change ** Soil resilien ...

. His work has focused on

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

wastewater Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of do ...

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

solid waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...

, and

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

infrastructure. His main technical approach includes

urban metabolism Urban metabolism (UM) is a model to facilitate the description and analysis of the flows of the materials and energy within cities, such as undertaken in a material flow analysis of a city. It provides researchers with a metaphorical framework to ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, and

complexity science A complex system is a system composed of many components that may interact with one another. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication sy ...

. Derrible was elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2025. He serves as an editor for

ASCE The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

’s

Journal of Infrastructure Systems The ''Journal of Infrastructure Systems'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society of Civil Engineers covering all aspects of civil engineering. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexe ...

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

’s

Scientific Reports ''Scientific Reports'' is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific mega journal published by Nature Portfolio, covering all areas of the natural sciences. The journal was established in 2011. The journal states that their aim is to assess solely ...

, and

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

’s Cleaner Production Letters. Since 2023, he has been Chair of the Standing Committee AMR10 Critical Transportation Infrastructure Protection of the

Transportation Research Board The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. TRB's mission is to mobilize expertise, experience, and knowledge to anticipate and solve complex transportation-related challe ...

. He was Chair of the Sustainable Urban Systems (SUS) section of the International Society for Industrial Ecology from 2017 to 2020. In addition to his research work, Derrible authored several non-fiction and fiction works to communicate how

civil infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

works and its role in society.

Books

* Derrible, S., 2025,
The Infrastructure Book: How Cities Work and Power our Lives
',

, The Globe Pequot Publishing Group. Essex, CT, 260 pages * Derrible, S., & Chester, M., (Eds) 2020, ''Urban Infrastructure: Reflections for 2100'', Independently published, 211 pages * Derrible, S., 2019,
Urban Engineering for Sustainability
',

, Cambridge, MA, 656 pages

Selected Awards and Honors

* Recognized in top 2% researcher in field for career and single-year impact since 2019 * Elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2025 * Invited participant (nominated and selected) to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)’s Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2023 * Received the

Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize The Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (Huber Award) is the highest level mid-career research award in all areas of civil engineering. The award is annually given to individuals with notable achievements and contributions in research with resp ...

from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2023 * Received a

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER award is the most prestigious award presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States Federal Government to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through rese ...

in 2016 * Received a

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...

Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2011

References

External websites

Sybil Derrible’s website

Sybil Derrible’s research group website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derrible, Sybil 1983 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London École Centrale de Lyon alumni Saint Pierre and Miquelon people University of Toronto alumni University of Illinois Chicago faculty