 My name is Alessandro Maranto. I'm Italian and I'm a PhD fellow at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and as of today I completed one year and a half of staying in the city of Delft working in the Hydroinformatics Department under the supervision of Dr. Dimitri Salomatini and Gerard Corso Pellis. Can you tell me what brought you to HE Delft? Yes, I'm a part of a Sandwich PhD program that involves the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the ICHI and when I saw the opportunity of coming to Delft for one year or one year and a half I was extremely enthusiastic of being part of this group and to go towards this experience. What are you researching, Alessandro? I'm doing a research that involves the use of geostatistical tools and data driven and pen statistical modeling for optimizing the groundwater allocation in agriculture in the central high plains of the United States. Being based in the Netherlands, how did that contribute to your research? It was an extremely nice experience for several reasons. The first one that comes to my mind, it was the possibility to collaborate with Dr. Salomatini and Dr. Corso, which are experts in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence and data driven modeling and that helps me to develop my statistical and research skill in a complementary way with respect to what I've learned in the University of Nebraska. During the time that you have been at ICHI Delft have you worked together with other PhD fellows and other staff members? Yes, for sure. Two names in particular come to my mind which are Maurizio Mazzolini and Juan Carlos Ciacon. With Juan Carlos I discussed many research opportunities and many researches idea and some of them are actually have actually been implemented with Maurizio Mazzolini. We collaborated in the development and I got a minor contribution in the development of two of his papers and it was nice because being part of this research area I had the opportunity to learn something from them and vice versa to give my contribution to some of their researches. Would you say that spending the year and a half at ICHI Delft as part of your PhD has really enriched your learning experience? It did. It didn't reach my learning experience and first of all working in a very nice environment as the ICHI Delft is gave me a strong contribution to the development of my PhD per se and also listening to the suggestions of colleagues of mine but also to staff members and faculty members and as my research skill a little bit more than just a little but definitely. Okay and obviously ICHI Delft is very different from the University of Nebraska. What would you say are the main differences that jump out? Okay let's say the ICHI Delft as an institute is like an extremely friendly environment in which you work and you know pretty much everybody in, you have the chance to talk and to develop your skills and to be surrounded by people that works in your field. The University of Nebraska is of course much more it has a lot of more variety. The main topic of the ICHI is water. I was working in the biological systems engineering department and over there I was talking with people that was dealing with agriculture and agricultural machinery which is still where both of them are I do believe there they have people working towards the same aim which is saving water and ensure water security but from different perspective while in the ICHI it was much more easier to find somebody that was working exactly in my field. And Delft itself the city is very different I'm sure from Nebraska. What was your first impression of Delft? The only thing I can say is I think Delft is the most beautiful city in the world probably. I really loved enjoying and being in this in this environment because it looks like it came out of a fairy tale and I'm Italian so I have Roman Florence to be seen twice a year very easily but it was just magic being here. And what are your plans once you leave us? I would be in Nebraska at the beginning of January and my plan is to go there keep working hard, finish my my PhD and even all the contribution that I got both from the University of Nebraska Lincoln and the ICHI I would like to be in academia again perhaps for our postdoc or a lecturing position. I do believe it's going to be in Europe and in particular I would like to be in the ICHI or in the Netherlands. Thank you very much Alessandro and all the very best of luck for your future.