I am a mathematical biologist by training and have been a team leader, researcher, and manager in my current professional career in artificial intelligence.
Until recently, I used to work as Director of AI Development in the Global Artificial Intelligence Accelerator at Ericsson in Santa Clara, California. Previously, I worked at Netflix in Los Gatos, California, and before that, at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Between 2012 and 2015, I was a Global Marie Curie Fellow with joint positions at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Polytechnic of Milan, Italy. As for the time before that, well, the past is the past, with much of it spent in my beloved Parma, Italy. I moved from Parma to Santa Cruz, California, where I reside, almost 15 years ago, after I got a job offer at UCSC.
My academic work has been recognized with media coverage and invited talks in Europe, the US, and South America. It has been published in leading scientific journals, including Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Ecological Applications, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Biological Conservation, Journal of Theoretical Biology, and PLoS Computational Biology. While my industry work can't be shared as freely, you can get a glimpse of my technical work in telecommunications and media through these two links: telecommunications and media.
For fun, after many years of playing football (the non-American version) at a good level, I now train in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (I got my black belt in 2021), lift weights, and run along the Pacific Ocean. I enjoy cooking, crafting homemade liquors, photography, and reading novels (Shibumi and Heart of Darkness are my all-time favorites).
I appreciate auteur films (La Notte, Queimada, and Investigation on a Citizen Above Suspicion are those I'd bring to a desert island), even when they occasionally make me doze off. I keep my mind sharp by writing essays and academic papers, solving crosswords, and designing clothes that people seem to like. Like many, I have greatly enjoyed traveling around the world—La Habana, Buenos Aires, and Madrid are the cities I have loved the most.
Some words I live by are those said by rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard: "It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow"
Quick links
Peer-reviewed publications I have written,
Google Scholar Citations page,
Academic CV,
Machine Learning Scientist Resume,
Photos from around the world, and
A voluminous collection of essays (also on Substack).
New
I have collected my revised and updated essays in a book (only in Italian for now), with the title, "Flusso inarrestabile di idee e di coscienza". Please read it and give it as a gift to friends, relatives, and enemies too.