Massimo Panella was born in Rome, Italy, in 1971. He received the five-year Dr.Eng. degree with honors in Electronic Engineering in 1998 and the Ph.D. degree in Information and Communication Engineering in 2002, both from the University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy. He is currently Director of the Department of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications (DIET) of the University of Rome "La Sapienza", where he is Full Professor holding courses on electrical engineering and applied machine learning. He was formerly Assistant Professor from March 2001 to June 2015 and Associate Professor from July 2015 to August 2021. Effective March 2018, he was also qualified to the role of Full Professor in Computer Science Engineering.

His research activities concern computational intelligence and quantum computing for the modeling, optimization and control of real-world systems, namely the use of neural networks, fuzzy logic, evolutionary algorithms and quantum circuits for solving both supervised and unsupervised learning problems, for time series analysis, and for the general processing of signals and data. Applications range from the development of learning algorithms in federated and distributed environments to the design of computational models and architectures for deep learning, from the implementation of neural networks in smart sensors and embedded systems to the synthesis of circuits and algorithms for quantum machine learning. The application areas mainly focus on energy, ICT, bioengineering, economy, aerospace and security, especially considering complex systems and networked services such as smart grids, IoT, logistics, smart sensor networks, etc.

M. Panella is an IEEE Senior Member. He has published more than 200 papers during his research activity, among them several papers in international journals, invited book chapters, international conference proceedings and conference abstracts. He has held several editorial roles including Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, Subject Editor of Electronics Letters (IET), and Associate Editor of the Journal of Computer and System Sciences (Elsevier).

Since 2000, he has joined numerous scientific and industrial research projects, some of which with a managing role, funded by the European Union, Italian ministries, regional agencies, as well as universities and companies. Currently, he is member of the Steering Committees of the CTL - Research Center for Transportation and Logistics and of DigiLab - Interdepartmental Research Center for Cultural Heritage and Arts, both at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". The research experience of M. Panella has laid sound foundations for the constitution of four academic startups, two of which as innovative startups, participating as a partner and as the head of R&D activities in the fields of ICT, security, cultural heritage and environmental sustainability.

His personal interests mainly concern music (rock, blues, jazz, country) and sports (running, cycling, football and hiking). He played tennis at a competitive level from 1982 to 1989 for the Italian Federation of Tennis (FIT).