Vita
Education
- PhD in Structural Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 2002.
- Laurea degree with honors in Electrical Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 1997.
- Laurea degree with honors in Mathematics, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 2005.
Research interests
Areas: Continuum Mechanics, Applied Mathematics, and Partial Differential Equations. Topics: Beam and shell theories; shape-memory alloys; ferromagnetic materials; granular materials; plasticity; hydrogen storage; surface growth; Cahn-Hilliard systems.
Google Scholar Profile
Scopus profile
Awards
2026 CISM–Città di Udine Fellowship (shared with Martin Kružík), awarded by the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences (CISM), Udine.
2011 AIMETA Junior Prize in Solid Mechanics, awarded by the Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Funding acquired
- 2026: Canada–Italy Innovation Award (Premio Canada-Italia per l’Innovazione), Embassy of Canada to Italy — winning project of the 2026 edition; funding for a collaborative research visit with Mattia Bacca (University of British Columbia), reimbursement up to €4,000.
- 2024: GNFM Visiting Professor fellowship (INdAM–GNFM Programma Professori Visitatori) — funding acquired as host for the visit of Stefan Kroemer (UTIA, Czech Academy of Sciences) at Roma Tre, 15 Oct.–15 Nov. 2024; homogenization of magnetorheological elastomers with rigid magnetic inclusions.
Memberships
- ISIMM — International Society for the Interaction of Mechanics and Mathematics. Member since 2014; member of the Executive Committee as Secretary-Treasurer, 2017–2020.
- SISCo — Società Italiana di Scienza delle Costruzioni (Italian Association for the Mechanics of Solids and Structures). Member since 2017; elected to the Executive Board for 2021–2023 and again for 2024–2026.
- AIMeTA — Associazione Italiana di Meccanica Teorica e Applicata (Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics). Member since 2021.
- SNP — Society for Natural Philosophy. Member since 2022.
- SIAM — Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Member since 2024.
Habilitations
- Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale al ruolo di professore ordinario di Scienza delle Costruzioni (Italian habilitation for full professorship in Mechanics of Materials and Structures).
- Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale al ruolo di professore ordinario di Fisica Matematica (Italian habilitation for full professorship in Mathematical Physics).
Project management
- 2007: Progetto Giovani GNFM (Young-Researcher Project funded by the Italian Research Group for Mathematical Physics): “Modelli multicampo per materiali con microstruttura: ferromagneti e cristalli liquidi nematici” (Multifield models for microstructured materials: ferromagnets and nematic liquid crystals). Duration: 12 months.
- 2009: Progetto Giovani GNFM: “Modellazione fisico-matematica di materiali e strutture intelligenti” (Mathematical-Physical Modeling of Smart Materials and Structures). Duration: 12 months.
- 2013: Progetto Giovani GNFM: “Modellazione matematica dei fenomeni di morphing.” (Mathematical Modeling of Morphing Processes). Duration: 12 months.
- 2015: Progetto Giovani GNFM: “Progettazione ottimale di materiali soffici attivi.” (Optimal design of soft active materials). Duration: 12 months.
- 2024–2026: PRIN 2022 grant DISCOVER (Data-drIven diSCOvery of latent Variable-modElled Relations), funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR). Principal Investigator. Total budget: €277k.
Project participation
- 2006–2008: National Research Project Grant. Italian title: “Micromeccanica dei materiali e modelli di strutture sottili” (Micromechanics of materials and models of thin structures). (PRIN 2005, prot. 2005013171_005).
- 2006: Riorganizzazione Materiale e Microstrutture nei Materiali Polimerici e Ferromagnetici (Material Reorganization and Microstructures in Polymers and Ferromagnets). Duration: 12 months.
- 2008: Modellazione Fisico-Matematica dei Continui Elettro-attivi (Mathematical modeling of electro-active continua). Duration: 12 months.
- 2014: Progetti Giovani GNFM: “Matematica del controllo di forma nei materiali soffici.” (Mathematics of shape control in soft materials). Duration: 12 months.
- 2016: Mathematical modelling of bio-hybrid and bio-inspired soft robots. Duration: 12 months.
- 2018–2020: National Research Project Grant “Mathematics of active materials: from mechanobiology to smart devices” (PRIN 2017, prot. 2017KL4EF3) (link).
Peer-reviewing
- Annals of Solid and Structural Mechanics
- Asymptotic Analysis
- Communications in Partial Differential Equations
- Communications on Pure and Applied Analysis
- Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics
- Journal of Elasticity
- Journal of Mechanics of Materials and Structures
- Journal of Nonlinear Science
- Journal of Sound and Vibration
- Meccanica
- Mechanics of Materials
- Proceeding of the Royal Society A
- SIAM Journal of Mathematical Analysis
- Smart Materials and Structures
- Wave Motion
Other reviewing activity
- AMS Mathematical Reviews
Appointments and service
- Member of the Executive Committee of ISIMM as Secretary-Treasurer, 2017–2020.
- Member of the Consiglio Direttivo of SISCo, elected for the term 2021–2023.
- Member of the Consiglio Direttivo of SISCo, elected for the term 2024–2026.
- Member of the Election Committee for the 2021 ISIMM elections.
- Member of the committee for the selection of the best PhD thesis in Mechanics of Materials, AIMeTA Junior Prize 2021.
Editorial activity
Guest Editor (with Giuseppe Saccomandi and Anja Schlömerkemper) of the Special Issue “Mathematics & Mechanics: Natural Philosophy in the 21st Century”, published on the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics in March 2020.
Organization of workshops
- Minisymposium: “Partial differential equations in materials science” (organized with Lorenzo Giacomelli, SBAI Department, University of Rome “La Sapienza”), 7th European Conference on Elliptic and Parabolic Problems, Gaeta, Italy, May 2012.
- Workshop PMM2016 – “Physics and Mathematics of Materials: current insights”. Links: GSSI / UniRoma2.
- Mathematics and Mechanics: Natural Philosophy in the 21st Century, Oxford, 24th–27th June 2018.
Invited talks at conferences and meetings
- Bologna, Sep. 2011, XX AIMETA Congress, “Giustificazione di teorie strutturali elementari a partire da modelli costitutivi non semplici.”
- Udine, Sep. 2014, Università di Udine – Conference “Variational Modeling in Solid Mechanics.” Talk: “Dissipative effects in strain-gradient plasticity: the case of simple shear.”
- Brescia, Nov. 2014, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Meeting The Powerful Continuum Mechanics, in honor of Antonio di Carlo’s 70th birthday. Talk: “Morphoelastic rods.”
- Rome, May 2015, INdAM-ERC Workshop Special materials in complex systems SMaCS2015. Talk: “A non-smooth regularization of the nonlinear diffusion equation.”
- Montecatini, Sep. 2015, Italian INdAM-GNFM general assembly. Talk: “Accretion of an elastic body on a spherical support: the treadmilling regime.”
- Arezzo, Jan. 25, 2019, Giornate Signorini (workshop organized by Giuseppe Saccomandi). “Macroscopic and microscopic behavior of narrow elastic ribbons.”
Other talks (selected):
- Ravello (Italy), Nov. 2002, Colloquium Lagrangianum.
- Ann Arbor (MI, USA), Oct. 2003, 40th Annual Technical Meeting Society of Engineering Science.
- Bologna, Jul. 3, 2018, European Solids Mechanics Conference. Talk: “A nonlinear theory for fibre-reinforced magneto-elastic rods.”
- Roma, Sep. 16, 2019, XXIV AIMETA Conference. Title: “On the straight-helicoid to spiral-ribbon transition in thin elastic ribbons.”
- Zoom webinar, Nov. 30, 2020, Necas Seminar on Continuum Mechanics, Charles University Prague. Title: “Shape programming of a magnetic elastica.”
Other participation to conferences
Conference HySEA 2014. Rio de Janeiro, 26–30 Oct. 2014. Poster: “Interaction between stress and diffusion in a spherical specimen: a model derived from the theory of configurational forces.”
Visits
- April 11–18, August 14–18, 2023; March 17–23, 2024; and March 9–13, 2026 — Institute of Information Theory and Automation (UTIA), Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. Research on homogenization of magnetorheological elastomers, in collaboration with Martin Kružík and Stefan Kroemer (UTIA), within the GACR–FWF project Scales and shapes in continuum thermomechanics.
- 01/03–3/4/2015 – Visiting Scholar at MIT Mechanical Engineering Department (on invitation of R. Abeyaratne).
- 26/10–28/11/2015 – Visiting Scientist at Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, POLI, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, funded by a Bemundus Scholarship.
- 29/03–12/04/2019 – Mathematics Department, National University of Ireland at Galway (on invitation of Michel Destrade).
Scholarships
Bemundus scholarship, from 25 Oct. 2015 to 28 Nov. 2015, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, POLI, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
Teaching
Undergraduate level (Laurea Triennale)
- “Scienza delle Costruzioni I/1” (Basic topics in Strength of Materials), fall 2002, fall 2004.
- “Meccanica dei Solidi 1” (Basic topics in Solid Mechanics), spring 2003.
- “Meccanica dei Continui” (Basic topics in Continuum Mechanics), 2004.
- Mechanics of Materials and Structures (Scienza delle Costruzioni): 9 ECTS credit course, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, University of Rome TorVergata.
- “Mechanics of Materials and Structures” (course taught in English), spring 2012, 2013, 2014.
- Mechanics of Materials and Structures (Scienza delle Costruzioni): 9 ECTS credit BSc-level course, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Università Roma TRE.
Master Level (Italian Laurea Magistrale)
- “Scienza delle Costruzioni II/1” (First part of Advanced topics in Strength of Materials).
- 2007–08: Scienza delle Costruzioni II (Full course on Advanced topics in Strength of Materials).
- Advanced topics in Strength of Materials (Complementi di Scienza delle Costruzioni), academic years 2008–09 to 2010–11, University of Rome TorVergata.
- Structural Dynamics (Dinamica delle Strutture): 6 ECTS credit MSc-level course, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Università Roma TRE.
PhD Level
- 3–8 April 2017. Instructor in the Ph.D. level course Hierarchical Multiscale Methods using the Andersen–Parrinello–Rahman Formulation of Molecular Dynamics (HMM2017), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University.
- 7–8 May 2019. Instructor in the international Ph.D. level course “Understanding nonlinear problems in civil and industrial engineering,” organized within the European Project XP-resilience (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016, Period: 09/2016–08/2020).
Theses supervision
Full list of supervised theses
Other teaching
- Instructor of Electronics and Mathematics from 7/6/1998 to 12/4/1999 in the Corp of Engineers of the Italian Army.
Other qualifications
- Abilitazione alla professione di Ingegnere (Professional Engineering Qualification), 1997.
- Abilitazione all’insegnamento nella scuola secondaria (High-school Teacher Qualification) in Mathematics and Physics, 2001.
Last update: May 2026