Curriculum vitae

Current position¶

I am associate professor at the Physics Department of the University of Trieste (Italy) since 2020.

Academic track¶

Abilitazione scientifica nazionale, professore di seconda fascia settore 02/B2
MIUR (Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca), Italy, 2018/08
Habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR)
University of Montpellier, France, 2017/02
Maitre de conférences (Associate Professor)
Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, University of Montpellier, Montpellier (France), 2011--2020
Maitre de conférences (Associate Professor)
Laboratoire de Colloïdes, Verres et Nanomatériaux, University of Montpellier 2, Montpellier (France), 2010--2011
Post-doc
Soft Matter Theory group, Technische Universität Wien, Austria, 2008--2010
Group leader: Gerhard Kahl
Ph.D. in Physics
University of Trieste, Italy, 2005--2008
Supervisor: Giorgio Pastore
Fellowship CNR-INFM
Centro di simulazione CNR-INFM "Democritos", Trieste, Italy, 2004/09--2004/12
Supervisor: Giorgio Pastore
Laurea in Physics
University of Trieste, Italy, 1999--2004
Supervisor: Giorgio Pastore
Grade: 110/110 cum laude

Research¶

My research interests deal with the physics of disordered systems, with the focus on supercooled liquids and glasses. I am also interested in modelling the phase behavior, structure and dynamics of soft condensed matter. My work is based on statistical physics methods, computer simulations and some tools borrowed from data science.

Over the years I developed a computational approach based on reproducible research, high-performance computing and on a high-level simulation framework called atooms, which I develop.

I am the author of 42 peer-reviewed papers (full list), h-index = 24 (Web Of Science, 2022/05).

Full list of seminars and talks at international conferences.

Fellowships¶

JSPS Invitational Fellowship for Research in Japan (Short Term), 2019/02
University of Tokyo and University of Nagoya
Visited institutions: University of Tokyo and University of Nagoya
Collaborators: Dr. Atsushi Ikeda, Dr. Takeshi Kawasaki, Prof. Kunimasa Miyazaki

Awards¶

IOP Trusted Reviewer Status (route 3), 2022
Prime d'encadrement doctoral et de recherche (PEDR), 2018
Top reviewer award for the Journal of Chemical Physics, 2012
ICTP Award, International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), 2004
Luciano Fonda scolarship for undergraduate students in Physics, 2000--2003
Corso di Laurea in Fisica, University of Trieste

Research grants¶

Participant in ERC project
"Statistical physics of dense particle systems in the absence of thermal fluctuations", 2012--2017
Principal investigator: Ludovic Berthier
Principal investigator in PRACE project
"Amorphous order in glassy silica", 2014/03--2015/03
Collaborators: Walter Kob
Resources: 150.000h GPU
Principal investigator in PRACE project
"Multi-GPU parallel tempering simulations", 2013/07--2014/01
Collaborators: Walter Kob
Resources: 100.000h GPU

Academic service¶

Delegato alla cooperazione allo sviluppo e internazionalizzazione per il dipartimento di fisica
Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 2022--
Member of the Ph.D. program committee in Applied Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
University of Trieste, 2021--
Member of selection committee for associate professors
Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 2021/06
Member of selection committee for researchers
Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 2021/03
Member of admission committee for the Collegio "Luciano Fonda"
Collegio "Luciano Fonda", University of Trieste, 2020/07
Member of Ph.D. hiring committee
École doctorale I2S, University of Montpellier, 2019/06
Head of the "Statistical Physics" group at the Charles Coulomb Laboratory
University of Montpellier, 2016--2019
Member of "comité de section" (expert pool) CNU 28
University of Montpellier, 2017--

Conferences' organization¶

Member of programme committee of the international conference "International Workshop on Dynamics in Viscous Liquids"
Montpellier (France), 2015/05
Co-organizer of mini-colloquium "Fluids in confinment in and out of equilibrium"
Journées de la Matière Condensée 14, Paris (France), 2014/08
Co-organizers: Gerhard Kahl
Co-organizer of CECAM workshop "Complex dynamics of fluids in disordered and crowded environments"
Lyon (France), 2010/06
Co-organizers: Gerhard Kahl and Vincent Krakoviack

Refereeing¶

Referee for peer-review journals:
European Journal of Physics B, Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 'Journal of Physics': 'Condensed Matter', Journal of Statistical Mechanics, Molecular Physics, Nature Communications, Nature Physics, Physical Review B, Physical Review E, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review Research, Physical Review X, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Soft Matter, Science Advances, Scientific Reports, SciPost Physics,
Reviewer for research funding agencies:
Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, French national research agency), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German national funding agency), Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO, Dutch Research Council), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Université franco-allemande (France-Germany), Fondo Sociale Europeo, Regione Friuli Venezia-Giulia (Italy), Programma per Giovani Ricercatori "Rita Levi Montalcini" (MIUR, Italian Ministry of University and Research), Labex PALM, Paris-Saclay (France),

Member of PhD commitees¶

Member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Chengjie Luo
Eindhoven University of Technology, 2023/01
External examiner of the Ph.D thesis of Vinay Vaibhav
The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, 2022/10
Member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Zeno Filiberti
Università dell'Insubria, 2021/03
External examiner and member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Susana Marín Aguilar
Université Paris-Sud, 2020/12
External examiner and member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Thomas Konincks
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), 2017/11
External examiner and member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Céline Ruscher
Université de Strasbourg (France), 2017/10
External examiner and member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Rhiannon Pinney
University of Bristol (U.K.), 2017/02
External examiner and member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Lorenzo Costigliola
Roskilde University (Denmark), 2016/09
External examiner and member of the committee of the Ph.D thesis of Marco Bernabei
Universidad del Pais Vasco, San Sebastian (Spain), 2011/04

Teaching¶

I teach at the "Laurea Magistrale" in Physics and at the "Laurea Triennale" in Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at the University of Trieste, since 2020/2021. Prior to that, I taught for 10 years at the Department of Physics of the University of Montpellier in France. My teaching activity included frontal lessons, exercices, experimental and numerical lab sessions on the following subjects:

classical mechanics
thermodynamics
waves
random walks
disordered systems
molecular dynamics simulations
high-performance computing

From 2012/2013 to 2017/2018, I enjoyed a teaching service reduction as participant to the ERC grant "Statistical physics of dense particle systems in the absence of thermal fluctuations".

Teaching in foreign institutions¶

Lab session on "Molecular Dynamics / Glasses"
DPG School on Computational Physics of Complex and Disordered Systems, Bad Honnef (Germany), 20/09/2015
Lab session "Python for physicists" on the Python language
Department of Physics, University of Tokyo (Japan), 19/03/2019

Service¶

Tutorials on computer science for graduate students in Physics
University of Trieste, 2021--
Coordinator of the teaching committee on thermodynamics and statistical physics courses
Département d'enseignement de Physique, University of Montpellier, 2019
Tutorials on atomisitic simulations on GPUs for undergraduate students in Physics
University of Montpellier, 2016--2020
Teaching supervisor of the 2nd year of Physics ("responsable d'année")
University of Montpellier, 2015--
Member of the teaching committee to organize Physics courses
Département d'enseignement de Physique, University of Montpellier, 2013

Students' supervision¶

PhD students

Advisor of Joris Paret
"Hidden order in amorphous materials"
University of Montpellier, 2018--2021
Co-advisor of Andrea Ninarello
"Computer simulations of supercooled liquids near the experimental glass transition"
University of Montpellier, 2014--2017
Principal advisor: Ludovic Berthier,
Co-advisor of Pascal Nadal
"Stochastic conformational changes in protein crystals"
University of Montpellier, 2013--2016
Principal advisors: Norbert Kern and Vladimir Lorman,

Master students

Advisor of master thesis (M2 level stage) of Marco Dirindin
"Simulazioni di dinamica molecolare per la silica amorfa bidimensionale"
Laurea magistrale in Fisica della Materia, University of Trieste, 2022
Advisor of master thesis (M2 level stage) of Riccardo Rende
"Metodi di apprendimento rinforzato per la simulazione Monte Carlo di sistemi disordinati"
Laurea magistrale in Fisica della Materia, University of Trieste, 2021
Advisor of master thesis (M1 level stage) of Cyril Santi
"Modélisation et simulation atomistique de la silice bi-dimensionnelle"
Master Nanophysique, University of Montpellier, 2019
Advisor of master thesis (M1 level stage) of Florian Garcin
"Modélisation de la matière active"
Master Physique et Ingenièrie du Vivant, University of Montpellier, 2019
Advisor of master thesis (M2 level stage) of Athina Monemvassitis
"Détection de communautés appliquée aux hétérogénéités structurelles dans des matériaux désordonnés"
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon, 2018
Advisor of master thesis (M2 level stage) of Dwight Smite
"Dynamique moléculaire sur architecture SIMD"
Master Physique-Informatique, University of Montpellier, 2014
Advisor of master thesis (M2 level stage) of Pascal Nadal
"Modélisation de suspensions de particules à forme fluctuante"
Master Physique-Informatique, University of Montpellier, 2013
joint tuition with Norbert Kern,
Co-advisor of master thesis (Master level stage) of Lukas Strauss
"Vibrations and diffusion in colloidal cluster crystals"
Master, Institut für Theoretische Physik, TU Wien, 2009
joint tuition with Gerhard Kahl,