Luigi's CV

2022            Director of Studies in Materials Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry - Department of Physics, University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy)

2021            Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy)

2019-2021   Senior Lecturer (RTD b) of Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy)

2016-2018   Senior Researcher, MEMEG unit, Department of Biology, Lund University (Sweden)

2011            Ph.D. in Mesophases and Mesomorphic materials, Bernardino Telesio School, University of Calabria (Italy)

I pursue a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the relationship between chemical composition and complex supramolecular structures. I am focusing my research activity on the out-of-equilibrium phenomena of complex fluids. Moreover, my activity is devoted to understanding and designing materials for industrial applications. I am an associate professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy. I also am a permanent member of the Center for Colloids and Surface Science (CSGI), in Florence, Italy. I established a research group on rheological properties and structural analysis of stimuli-responsive complex fluids such as colloidal suspensions, polymers, self-assembled surfactant solutions, soil organic matter, and mineral nanoparticles. I am working actively on the structural characterization of materials by scattering and spectroscopic techniques: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Infrared (FT-IR), small-angle X-ray (SAXS), Neutron (SANS), light scattering (SALS), and last but not least rheology. I am often acting as a reviewer for peer-reviewed scientific journals of ACS, RSC, and Elsevier.

I am a member of the following scientific societies

1) European Colloid Interface Society (ECIS)

2) Italian Chemical Society (SCI)

3) American Chemical Society (ACS)

4) Società Italiana di Spettroscopia Neutronica (SISN) - Referente regione Puglia

I was funded by the Crafoord Foundation in Sweden in 2017 and by the Italian Science Fund (FIS 2021) in 2024 with a project entitled "Out-of-Equilibrium bio-based polymeric complex fluids" and from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the program Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale and by European Union – Next Generation EU (PRIN 2022 PNRR) grant number [P202229ME2] with a project entitled "Structure and flow dynamics of Concentrated AMphiphilic BIOmolecules (CAmBio): driving the change to eco-sustainable surfactant formulations" see Project section.

Keywords: Biosurfactants, Biopolymers, fibers, vesicles, food hydrocolloids, active packaging, smart fluids for energy transport, formulations, drug delivery devices