Curriculum Vitae

Experience


Postdoc Researcher

March 2021 – Present

  • I'm dealing with atmospheric radiative transfer modeling for the ESA project FORUM.

  • I carry out research activities in the field of remote sensing for renewable energy sources.


Project Engineer - Sesta Lab

September 2020 – March 2021

  • I'm involved in research projects related to the use of hydrogen for energy production and innovative mobility systems.

  • I support the experimental testing activities carried out at Sesta Lab.

  • I'm responsible for several power plants ancillary contracts.


Assistant Research Fellow - Free University of Bolzano

Nov 2018 – September 2020

  • I took part in the experimental activities of the Bioenergy & Biofuels Lab in the field of alternative liquid (biodiesel, bioethanol) and gaseous (forestry biomass producer gas) fuels in internal combustion engines for micro-cogeneration systems.

  • I have been involved in two funded projects. As part of a FESR project, funded in collaboration with Röchling Automotive, I’ve worked on the thermal management and the system modeling of lithium batteries implemented in electric vehicles. I've also been involved in a national research project (PRIN) project dealing with the valorisation, in a circular economy framework, of different biomass sources for energy generation.

  • I carried out didactic activities in the field of Fluid Machines and Energy Systems.


PhD Fellow - Free University of Bolzano

Dec 2015 – Oct 2018

  • I developed a test bench for the performance and emissions testing of liquid (mixtures of bioethanol and biodiesel) and gaseous (producer gas obtained through the gasification of forestry biomass) biofuels in compression ignition engines for micro-cogeneration systems.

  • I have implemented 0D thermodynamic models of the dual-fuel combustion of producer gas and diesel.

Moreover, I was involved in side projects dealing with:

  • Syngas use in micro gas turbines (STIG cycle);

  • Experimental testing of biofuels in tractors;

  • Urea injection optimization in SCR systems.

During my external staying at the University of Ljubljana (SI) I was involved in several experimental campaigns in the field of combustion analysis and emission characterization of internal combustion engines fueled with mixtures of natural gas and syngas.
I co-supervised two master thesis and one bachelor thesis. I have written as main author and co-author several journal and conference papers. I have been directly involved in the writing of European, regional and internal research projects. I gave oral presentations and I presented scientific posters into several international conferences.


Internship at Fiat Powertrain Technologies, Torino

Sept 2015 – Nov 2018

Data management at the Technical Customer Management department.


Short Research Stage at Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium

Jan 2015 – April 2018

Laser Induced Fluorescence experimental testing (as part of my Master Thesis work).


Research project at the Leibniz Universität Hannover

May 2014 - August 2014

Study of the limitations of intrusive temperature measurements in heat pipes (as part of my Erasmus semester).


Education


PhD in Sustainable Energy and Technologies - Free University of Bolzano

Dec 2015 – July 2019

Thesis: The use of liquid and gaseous biofuels in internal combustion engines for micro-cogeneration systems: a fossil fuel substitution approach.


M.Sc. in Energy Engineering - Università della Calabria

Sept 2012 – May 2015 | Grade: 110/110 cum Laude.

Thesis: Laser Induced Fluorescence in gases: thermometric investigations and spectroscopic experimental characterization of acetone, naphthaleneand toluene as a LIF tracers


B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering - Università della Calabria

Sept 2009 – Sept 2012 | Grade: 109/110.

Thesis: The Stirling engine: operating principles, modeling and designs, future energy developments and applications.


Post-graduate courses:

  • Numerical Simulation with ANSYS - CFD Expert Degree, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid [Jan 2016 – June 2016]

  • SQL for Data Science, IBM [April/May 2020]

  • Renewables Against COVID - Res4Africa/Technical Solidarity/Micro-Grid Academy [Marzo/Giugno 2020]


Grants and honors


Grants:

  • 1-year post-doc research fellowship at Free University of Bolzano (2019/2020)

  • 1-year research fellowship at Free University of Bolzano (2018/2019)

  • 3-years PhD fellowship at Free University of Bolzano (2015-2018)

  • 3-months Erasmus traineeship grant at Von Karman Institute of Fluid Dynamics (2015)

  • 5-months Erasmus grant at Leibniz Universität Hannover (2014)

International Boards/Scientific Committees

  • Member of the scientific advisory board of the 16th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), Dubrovnik 2021

Skills

(B: Beginner, I: Intermediate, A: Advanced, E: Expert)


Data process and visualization:

  • Matlab/Octave, Excel (A/E)

  • Python, R, SQL (B/I)

Data acquisition

  • Labview (I/A)

Systems modeling:

  • Matlab/Octave, Simulink (A/E)

Design, process and simulations:

  • SolidWorks, FreeCAD (B/I)

  • Ansys Fluent, Amesim, AVL Boost (B/I)

  • DWSIM, OpenModelica (B)

Writing and presentation:

  • Word, Latex, Powerpoint, Beamer (A/E)

Languages:

  • English (A)

  • German, French (B)