Academic Staff
Nicola Leone
Email: leone[AT]mat.unical.it
Web: Personal site
Expertise
Logic-Based Artificial Intelligence, Database systems and deductive databases, Logic programming, Answer Set Programming/Disjunctive Logic Programming, Constraint Satisfaction Problems, Knowledge representation and reasoning/Nonmonotonic Reasoning, Algorithms and computational complexity in databases and AI
Short Bio
Nicola Leone has been serving as Professor of Computer Science at the University of Calabria since October 2000. Between 1995 and 2000 he was Professor at the Technische Universitaet Wien (Austria), and formerly a Researcher at the CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) and the CRAI (Consorzio per la Ricerca e le Applicazioni dell’Informatica).
At the University of Calabria, he was coordinator of the board of studies in Computer Science from 2001 to 2008, and then head of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and coordinator of the PhD program in Mathematics and Computer Science between 2008 and 2018. He served as the University of Calabria dean's delegate to promote the quality of teaching from 2012 to 2013.
He is actively involved in technology transfer: he coordinates (and coordinated) different innovation projects, both under the National Operational Plan (PON) and the Regional Operational Plan (POR). He founded the academic spin-off DLVSystem ltd., which operates in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Among the experiences of coordination and management, we mention here the roles of scientific director for the European Project INFOMIX, national coordinator of two national PRIN projects in Italy and two FWF projects in Austria.
In 2019 he was President of the European Conference on Logic in Artificial Intelligence (JELIA 2019) and chair of the Italian Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA 2019).
Research
His current research activities mainly focus on Artificial Intelligence, especially on the use of logic for Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. He designed the artificial intelligence system DLV, used in many universities and international research centers. He has been serving as chair of the program committee for numerous international scientific symposiums, as keynote speaker in several conferences worldwide, and as editor of two international scientific journals on Artificial Intelligence.
In 2019, more than 250 of his publications count more than 10,000 scientific citations. His H-Index on Google Scholar stands at 54, and he is included in the ranking of the best Italian scientists compiled by the Via Academy.
Awards and Honors
(Selection)
Winner of the ACM-PODS Alberto O. Mendelzon Test-of-Time Award for 2009. This prize is awarded every year to the paper published in the World Database Theory Conference (PODS) proceedings ten years prior that had the most impact in terms of research, methodology, or transfer to practice over the intervening decade.
Winner of the ICLP Test-Of-Time Award at the International Conference on Logic Programming in Oxford, 2018.
In 2015 and 2017, respectively in Cork (Ireland) and Melbourne (Australia), his research was awarded with Best Paper Awards at the world conferences of logic programming.
Winner of prize Galarte 2011 – supported by the President of Italian Republic – assigned to the best calabrian scientists for 2011.
Elected as ECCAI fellow in Montpellier, France (2012).
Included in the list of the Top Italian Scientists of the Via Academy, comprising the most cited Italian scientists from all disciplines.
Winner of a Civic Award in 2011 in Diamante for the excellence of the research activities.
Publications: