• Simulation and Modeling
• Complex Systems
• Cellular Automata
• Genetic Algorithms
• Mathematical Models for Biomedical Devices

My research activity is positioned in a inter-disciplinary context, touching diverse scientific fields, from modeling to parallel computing, from optimization to complex systems. However, the most representative researches involve computer science applications for the modeling and simulation of geological processes. This field is nowadays gaining a constant attention of the Scientific Community, both regarding theoretical aspects, and for possible applications linked to hazard assessment of geological events. As a matter of fact, different models for simulating lava flows, landslides, pyroclastic flows have been developed and implemented on parallel machines, as confirmed by the numerous scientific publications of which I am co-author since my Laurea Degree Thesis, in 1998. In the past, I’ve been involved in European and National Research projects, with different international partners, concerning simulation and modeling of natural phenomena. My research studies have regarded the development of a methodology for the adoption of Cellular Automata for the study of natural and artificial complex systems that evolve on the basis of “macroscopic” local interactions, and on their optimization, by means of the Genetic Algorithm paradigm. The developed methodology and the macroscopic approach of Cellular Automata represent a significant innovation in the international scientific field. In this area, in fact, Cellular Automata have been used exclusively only at a microscopic level of description and with a different approach. The models implementations can be executed on both sequential and parallel computers, though this last approach is usually preferred, due to the underlying parallel nature of the models.