PhD
My PhD focuses on how we can use ideas from the study of graph connectivity to obtain construction algorithms for "algorithmically useful" graph decompositions. I have been working on exact algortihms for the construction of tree decompositions which are optimal under certain conditions (i.e. we do not care solely about minimizing treewidth). I am also interested in finding ways of extending the idea of a tree decompsotion to directed and temporal graphs.Education
-- Ph.D. Computer Science, University of Glasgow (started: October 2017)-- B.Sc. Mathematics and its Applications, University of Stirling (2013-1017)
Awards
-- SICSA travel grant to attend "Recent Advances in Parameterized Complexity"-- EPSRC Doctoral Research Scholarship (three and a half years)
-- Best in Europe (top 4% world-wide) in "The Mathematical Contest in Modelling" (year: 2017)
Biography
I am half Italian and half US-American. I was born and raised in Italy (except for half a decade or so during which I lived in Florida) and I moved to Scotland to pursue higher education. I have a first-class undergraduate degree in "Mathematics and its Applications" from the University of Stirling. (For those who don't know, the Univeristy of Stirling is a lovely university in a breathtaking campus.) In Stirling I worked as a summer research intern with Anthony O'Hare, Jessica Enright and Adam Kleczkowski. (They are all lovely people who do lots of intersting work, so I encourage you to seek them out if you are interested in their research!)After my undergraduate degree I started my PhD in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. Here I am part of the "Formal Analysis, Theory and Algoriothms" research group. It's a vibrant and active group which *you* (yes you!) should visit!
Personal and Previous lives
Given my current area of work, many would be surprized to know that I am a certified "Perito Agrario" ("Agronomist" in English). This of course means that I have a passion for agriculture and related topics.If I'm not in my office, you can probably find me in the Botanic Gardens! Although you should probably try peering through the many plants around my desk to make sure I'm really not there before you seek me out elsewhere. If you're looking for more conversation topics, I play the guitar and the mandolin.