Gerardo del Cerro Santamaría is a Senior Research Scholar, Professor, Author, Mentor and International Advisor in New York. He has taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Skidmore College and The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in Manhattan, where he was Founding Director and Senior Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Innovation and Research Professor of Planning and Megaprojects for twenty-three years. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, London School of Economics and University College London, among other institutions. Del Cerro is a U.S. Fulbright fellow, a former Program Evaluation Director (Gateway Engineering Coalition) at the U.S. National Science Foundation, and a European Union Expert in Regional Policy (Regio Program). He serves at Future Earth Urban Knowledge-Action Network, Earth System Governance Project and Global Land Program, at the Scientific Board at LASRET (Laboratoire Scientifique de Recherche Transdisciplinaire), in Paris, and at the New York Academy of Sciences. Gerardo has authored many scientific publications on various aspects of urbanism and global capitalist development, megaprojects, iconic architecture, technology, innovation, complex sustainability, STEM education, neoliberalism in higher education, robotics and the mathematics of music.
His most recent book is Contesting Megaprojects: Complex Impacts, Urban Disruption and the Quest for Sustainability, New York: Springer Nature (2025). He has received several professional recognitions and his work has been featured in the media, in both the United States and Europe. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Network for Engineering Studies, the Academy of International Business, and the New York Chapter of the U.S. Fulbright Association. Del Cerro’s background is in Science, Mathematical Logic and Philosophy of Science, Political Economy and Music. He received a full-tuition scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan and graduated with Honors.
A music lover and classical piano player, Gerardo holds the degree of Professor of Piano from the Joaquín Turina Conservatory, and actively participates in New York’s musical life.