Biography

I grew up in Sicily, and some of my earliest experiences with computing happened around robots, competitions and things that did not always work the first time. During high school in Catania, I spent years in the school robotics group, eventually leading teams and projects. I also competed in robotics and computer science across Sicily and at national events around Italy, and in 2016 a project I had conceived and coordinated was selected for Maker Faire Rome. Around the same time, I won a journalism competition that led to a year working in the newsroom of NewSicilia.it. Soon after, I began writing about science and technology for thedifferentgroup.com. Looking back, the pattern was already there: understand technology, make something with it, work with others and explain it beyond specialist circles.

In 2017 I moved to Pisa to study Computer Science. University gave me a more rigorous way of thinking about software and computational systems, but some of the experiences that shaped me most happened alongside my degree. In 2018 I joined Pisa CoderDojo as a mentor, organising educational workshops, public-engagement activities and a free monthly open laboratory around coding, robotics and STEAM. It changed how I thought about technical knowledge: understanding something matters, but so does creating the conditions for someone else to explore it.

Research grew out of the same curiosity. My bachelor’s work on smart environments led me toward Software Engineering, Cloud-IoT and distributed systems. During my master’s, a GARR research fellowship moved those questions into distributed infrastructure, eventually contributing to cloudWatcher on GARR’s national federated cloud. I also completed a double-degree programme between Pisa and the Universidad de Málaga, spending the second year in Spain.

During my PhD, that path led into Quantum Software Engineering, with research stays at the Universidad de Extremadura and Simula Research Laboratory. Alongside research, I kept teaching at university, in local primary, middle and high schools, and in programmes with foundations and other organisations. Public engagement also grew, taking me across Italy for festivals, talks, workshops and interactive science-communication activities.

More recently, I have begun working with organisations through scientific advisory. Today I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pisa, while continuing to teach, communicate science and contribute to advisory. Across these contexts, I recognise the same impulse that was there when I was building robots in Sicily: enter something unfamiliar, understand how it works, make something with that understanding, and create a way for other people to use it, question it or take it further.