My story


During a walk in Trento, when I was in my last year of high school, I looked by chance inside a bookstore, and I saw a book titled "The Music of the Primes", by Marcus Du Sautoy. With such an engaging and misterious title, I couldn't but buying it immediately. Chance wanted that the author of the book was giving a seminar in Trento in those days. I attended it, and I was so fascinated that I decided to use the book as main source for my final year dissertation, and to study more in depth those topics. This is how I chose to study Mathematics.

Research, research, research, 2014

When at university (website), I fell in love with Analysis, and in particular with Calculus of Variations (read more here) and Geometric Measure Theory (read more here). To me, these are delightful areas of Mathematics, full of fascinating ideas and problems.

I then had the amazing opportunity to study as a PhD student at SISSA (website), where I was exposed to classes by world experts on those subjects. A period in an inspiring and unique environment that shaped and opened my mind, and I learned how to do research thanks to my advisor Massimiliano Morini.

Driven by curiosity and by the inner desire to discover and create new ideas, I decided to continue my path in research. I was attending a conference, when Irene Fonseca approached me and offered me a poisition as Postdoctoral Associate with her. She gave me two hours to give her an answer. I didn't need more time to accept! The three years at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis (website) of Carnegie Mellon University allowed me to expand my horizons and work on projects in materials science and imaging science. That is also the period where I initiated independent projects.

My path then took me to the lands of Scotland, where I joined David Bourne at Heriot-Watt University (website) in a 2-year project devoted to discover the emergence of self-assembly in systems of interacting particles.

Then, in August 2020, I joined the newly formed group in Applied Mathematics (website) at Radboud University.

To this day, the experiences I had the opportunity to have and where they took me still seem incredible. Yet, I couldn't see myself doing anything else. Being a mathematicians allows me to satisfy my curiosity, to be creative every day, to be constantly challenged, to engage in new exciting projects in different areas, and to make a positive impact on society. Have a look at my reseach, teaching, mentoring, outreach activities.

An offer I couldn't, and wouldn't, refuse, 2014
Opening of the Academic Year at SISSA, 2014

Along the way, I was always involved in activities to give back to the community. Starting back in my PhD student years, as the Vice-President of the SISSA Club I was involved in organizing activities, course, and events for SISSA students.

In 2018 the call for founding the SISSA Alumni Society (website) came, and I was really excited about that. We are working on connecting the alumni all over the world, create a network of people sharing an experience of their life, and spreading good practices for equality, diversity, and inclusion policies in academia and in industry.

Here you can download my full CV (pdf).

Academic Positions


  • 2020 - Present

    Assistant Professor

    Radboud University - Nijmegen (NL)   (website)

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  • 2018 - 2020

    Research Associate

    Heriot-Watt University - Edinburgh (UK)   (website)

    Mentor:  Dr. David Bourne    (website)

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  • 2015 - 2018

    Postdoctoral Associate

    CNA - Carnegie Mellon University - Pittsburgh (USA)   (website)

    Mentor:  Prof. Irene Fonseca   (website)

Education


  • 2015

    Ph.D. Degree in Applied Mathematics (cum laude)

    SISSA - International School of Advanced Studies - Trieste (Italy)   (website)

    Advisor:  Prof. Massimiliano Morini   (website)

    Thesis:  On local and global minimizers of some non-convex variational problems  (pdf)

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  • 2011

    Master Degree in Mathematics (cum laude)

    University of Trento - Trento (Italy)   (website)

    Advisor:  Prof. Francesco Serra Cassano   (website)

    Thesis:  The Bernstein problem in the euclidean and sub-Riemannian setting  (pdf)

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  • 2008

    Bachelor Degree in Mathematics (cum laude)

    University of Trento - Trento (Italy)   (website)

    Advisor:  Prof. Gabriele Greco

    Thesis:  Paradosso di Banach-Tarski e gruppi ammissibili [The Banach-Tarski paradox and admissible groups]  (pdf)

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  • 2005

    High School Degree

    Liceo Scientifico Galileo Galilei - Verona (Italy)

    Indirizzo Scientifico-Tecnologico

    Thesis:  La sinfonia dei numeri primi [The symphony of primes]

Academic Societies


  • Calculus of Variations in the Netherlands (website)
  • Koninklijk Wiskundig Genootschap [Royal Dutch Mathematical Society] (website)
  •       NDNS+ Cluster (website)
  • The International Society for the Interaction of Mechanics and Mathematics (website)
  • Unione Matematica Italiana [Italian Mathematical Society] (website)
  •       MIVA Group - Matematica delle Immagini, della Visione, e delle loro Applicazioni (Mathematics of Images, Vision, and thei Applications) (website)

Administrative Activities


  • 2021 - present

    Member of the PR Committee of the Mathematics Department

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  • 2020 - 2022

Member of the Advisory Board of the Mathematics Department

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  • 2021 - 2024

    President of SISSA Alumni Society (website)

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  • 2018 - 2021

    Vice-President of SISSA Alumni Society (website)

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  • 2013 - 2015

    Deputy Chairman of SISSA Club