About me

I am a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) and a Lead Scientist at the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI). I obtained my Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Bern (Switzerland), my M.Sc. from the Polytechnic University of Milan (Italy), and my B.Sc. from the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy).

My research leverages machine learning, data science, and network science to detect, investigate, and mitigate online harms in socio-technical systems. I study malicious behaviors, misinformation, and manipulation dynamics on social media to design algorithms for their detection and identify actionable insights for their mitigation. My study and interest fall into research areas such as AI, computational social science, and human-machine interaction.

At the Information Sciences Institute (ISI), I am currently co-PI of the DARPA-funded program INCAS – which aims to develop techniques and tools to detect, characterize, and track geopolitical influence campaigns; and of the interdisciplinary project CARISMA, funded by the Swiss NSF, to support policymakers and regulators by establishing computational models to craft policy recommendations that can effectively mitigate online harms.

During my previous appointment at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), I was a research scientist at the Institute of Networking and Information Systems (ISIN) and the head of the Network Science research unit within the Department of Innovative Technologies (DTI).

Academic Experience

University of Southern California (USC)

2024 - Present
Research Assistant Professor - USC Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Lead Scientist - USC Information Sciences Institute

Information Sciences Institute
University of Southern California, US

2022 - Present
Postdoctoral research associate in the research group led by Emilio Ferrara

SUPSI & University of Bern
Switzerland

2015 - 2020
Ph.D. student in the research groups led by Silvia Giordano
and Torsten Braun

Polytechnic University
of Milan, Italy

2012- 2014
Master of Science in Telecommunication Engineering

University of New South
Wales Australia

2014
Research intern in the research group led by Mahbub Hassan

Polytechnic University
of Bari Italy

2009-2012
Bachelor of Science in Telecommunication Engineering

Information Sciences Institute
University of Southern California, US

2022 - 2024
Research Scientist in the research group led
by Emilio Ferrara

Institute for Information Systems and Networking
SUPSI, Switzerland

2020 - 2022
Research scientist in the research group led by
Silvia Giordano

SUPSI & University of Bern
Switzerland

2015 - 2020
Ph.D. student in the research groups led by
Silvia Giordano and Torsten Braun

Polytechnic University of Milan
Italy

2012- 2014
Master of Science in Telecommunication Engineering

University of New South Wales
Australia

2014
Research intern in the research group led by Mahbub Hassan

Polytechnic University of Bari
Italy

2009-2012
Bachelor of Science in Telecommunication Engineering

Previous affiliation

Previous
affiliation

A little bit about myself

A little bit
about me

I love cooking, traveling, and discovering new cultures

I have been a scout
for 10 years

 I played soccer in many professional teams
since I was 6 years old

I started surfing and kitesurfing in the last couple of years

I like practicing mindfulness meditation and yoga

Things I ❤️