Education

2003-present

Ph.D. Candidate in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics.

Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, USA), Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST).

2006

M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, USA)

2000

Laurea in Electronics Engineering.

University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy)

Click here to find out more information about my education!

Research Experience

Jan 04-present

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, USA). Research assistant in the Radiology Department. Working on the development of new techniques for parallel magnetic resonance imaging. Supervisor: Dr. Daniel Sodickson

Jan 01-May 03

Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institutes (Bologna, Italy). Research scientist at the Laboratory of Medical Technology. Responsible for the validation and the dissemination of the Hip-Op preoperative planning system for total hip replacement surgery. Collaborator for two European research projects as programmer and application expert of joint prostheses.

Sep 02-Mar 03

Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, USA). Visiting research scholar at the Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery  (MRCAS) laboratory. Working on accuracy evaluation of an image-based surgical navigation system for orthopaedic surgery. Supervisors: Dr. Branislav Jaramaz and Dr. Anthony DiGioia.

Jan 00-Dec 00

Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institutes (Bologna, Italy). Visiting research student. Carrying out the research work for "Tesi di Laurea" (Master Thesis). Thesis title: Evaluation of the effectiveness and the usability of a multimodal user-interface for a surgical simulator for orthopaedic surgery. Supervisors: Prof. Angelo Cappello and Dr. Marco Viceconti.

Skills

Programming: Pascal, C, C++, HTML, Latex, Tcl

Operating Systems: Mac OS-X, Windows, Linux

Software: MS Office, Mathematica, Matlab

Languages: Italian (native), English (fluent), Spanish (good)

Awards and Honors

2008: I. I. Rabi Young Investigator Award, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

2008: Aspen Junior Fellow, Aspen Institute Italia

2006: Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society

2006, 2008: Educational stipend award, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

2003: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology fellowship

2002: Fulbright research scholarship

2001: Spinner research scholarship (sponsored by the European Social Fund)

2001: First prize on abstract competition at BIONOVA 2001 (2^nd conference on biotechnologies and bioengineering, 28 Novembre - 1 Dicembre 2001, Padova, Italy)

Affiliation and Miscellaneous

2008-present: Aspen Junior Fellows, Aspen Institute Italia

2007-present: collaborator to the Italian newspaper "La Stampa"

2006-present: Sigma Xi

2005-present: International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM)

2000-present: IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS)

2005-2008: President of MITALY, the Italian student association at MIT.

2001: Habilitation to the engineering profession in Italy

2000-2003: Editor for "L'Isola del Tesoro" (Italian online magazine of cinema and literature)

Publications

Click here for a list of my publications!

Detailed and additional education

University of Bologna (A.A. 1994-1995 to A.A. 1999-2000) :

Mathematical Analysis I (Prof. Silvano Matarasso);

Computer Science I (Prof. Maria Rita Scalas);

Physics I (Prof. Arnaldo Uguzzoni);

Chemistry (Prof. Marino Poloni);

Algebra and Geometry (Prof. Anna Luisa Gilotti);

Mathematical Analysis II (Prof. Carlo Ravaglia);

Computer Science II (Prof. Giuseppe Bellavia);

Physics II (Prof. Franco Malaguti);

Technical Physics (Prof. Valerio Tarabusi);

Electrotechnics (Prof. Paolo Raffaele Ghigi);

Rational Mechanics (Prof. Barbara Lazzari );

Mathematical Analysis III (Prof. Davide Guidetti);

Logical Networks (Prof. Eugenio Faldella);

Automatic Controls (Prof. Gloria Capitani)

Applied Electronics I (Prof. Pier Ugo Calzolari);

Electrical Communications (Prof. Carlo Caini);

Bioengineering I (Prof. Gianni Gnudi)

Bioengineering II (Prof. Angelo Cappello);

Applied Electronics II (Prof. Guido Masetti);

Computer Hardware Design (Prof. Tullio Salmon Cinotti);

Electromagnetic Fields (Prof. Vittorio Rizzoli);

Electronic Measurements (Prof. Domenico Mirri);

Biomedical Instrumentation (Prof. Guido Avanzolini)

Bioengineering III (Prof. Silvio Cavalcanti);

Telecommunication Networks (Prof. Giorgio Corazza);

Analysis of Biomedical Signals and Data (Prof. Mauro Ursino);

Healthcare Automation and Organization (Prof. Claudio Lamberti);

Economics and Management (Prof. Alessandro Grandi).

Laurea Thesis: Valutazione dell'efficacia e della usabilita' di una interfaccia multimodale per un simulatore chirurgico ortopedico (Evaluation of the effectiveness and the usability of a multimodal user-interface for a surgical simulator for orthopaedic surgery). Download PDF (4.4 Mb, in Italian)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology  (Fall 2003 to present) :

6.866 Machine Vision (Prof. Berthold K. P. Horn);

6.336 Introduction to Numerical Simulation (Prof. Jacob K. White);

6.002 Circuits and Electronics (Prof. Jeffrey H. Lang);

6.630 Electromagnetics (Prof. Jin A. Kong);

HST.590 Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series (HST staff);

HST.595 Tutorial in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics I (Prof. Martin L. Yarmush);

HST.010 Human Functional Anatomy (Prof. Lee Gehrke);

HST.030 Human Pathology (Prof. Richard N. Mitchell);

HST.090 Cardiovascular Pathophysiology (Prof. Elazer R. Edelman);

HST.100 Respiratory Pathophysiology (Prof. Jeffrey M. Drazen);

HST.110 Renal Pathophysiology (Prof. Dennis Brown);

HST.160 Molecular Biology and Genetics in Modern Medicine (Prof. David E. Housman);

HST.201 Introduction to Clinical Medicine I (Dr. Valerie Pronio-Stelluto);

HST.202 Introduction to Clinical Medicine II (Dr. Valerie Pronio-Stelluto);

HST.203 Clinical Experience in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (Prof. Emery N. Brown)

15.401 Finance Theory I (Prof. Thomas Copeland);

15.363 Strategic Decision Making in the Biomedical Business (Mr. Jonathan Fleming, Dr. Andrey Zarur)

Master of Science Thesis: "Radiofrequency detector coil performance maps for parallel MRI applications".

Other schools

In 1994 I took my high school degree from Liceo Scientifico Statale "Temistocle Calzecchi Onesti" (Fermo, Italy).

From July 1992 to June 1993 I've been an exchange student in Enid (Oklahoma, USA) and I graduated from Enid High School (class of 1993).