Education
- September 2018: Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR) in Chemistry, University of Lorraine, Metz & Nancy, France
- December 2006: Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences; Thesis: “Development and Application of Methods Based on Extremely Localized Molecular Orbitals” (Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Sironi), University of Milan, Italy
- July 2003: Laurea degree (equivalent to B.S. + M.S) in Chemistry (110/110 cum laude); Thesis: “A new strategy to relax extremely localized molecular orbitals: the ELMO-CI method” (Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Sironi), University of Milan, Italy
Professional career
- July 2024 - Present: Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
- October 2011 - June 2024: Permanent CNRS researcher, Laboratory of Theoretical Physics and Chemistry, CNRS & University of Lorraine, Metz & Nancy, France
- September 2008 - September 2011: Post Doctoral Researcher, CNR – Institute of Chemistry of Molecular Recognition (Prof. Giorgio Colombo Research Group), Milan, Italy.
- November 2006 - August 2008: Post Doctoral Researcher, Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida (Prof. Kenneth M. Merz Jr. Research Group), Gainesville, Florida, USA
Main research topics
- Development of new quantum chemistry methods:
- Construction of libraries of extremely localized molecular orbitals
- Embedding methods based on extremely localized molecular orbitals
- Fast and accurate techniques for the determination of noncovalent interactions in systems of biological interest
- New quantum computing algorithms in the framework of the Valence Bond theory
- Development of new computational techniques for quantum crystallography:
- Methods for the determination of “experimental” wave functions consistent with X-ray diffraction data
- Exploitation of the X-ray restrained wave function approach in the context of Density Functional Theory (DFT)
- Extension of the Hirshfeld atom refinement (HAR) technique to macromolecular systems and to non-molecular crystals.
Publication records
- More than 70 papers and book chapters (7 as single author, 14 as first authors (beyond single-author contributions), 22 as last authors (beyond single-author contributions) and 43 as corresponding author)
- More than 35 oral communications at conferences and schools (30 as invited speaker)
- More than 20 invited seminars at universities or scientific institutions
Fundraising
- 1 ANR Project as principal investigator (National Research Agency (ANR), France)
- 1 PEPS Mirabelle Project (Projets Exploratoires Premier Soutien "Mirabelle") as principal investigator (CNRS and University of Lorraine, France)
- 2 Jean Barriol Institute projects as principal investigator
- 1 METZ Eurométropole projects as principal investigator
Institutional roles in scientific societies
- August 2022 - Present: Chair of the Special Interest Group on Quantum Crystallography (SIG-02) of the European Crystallographic Association
- Agosto 2018 - Agosto 2022: Secretary of the Special Interest Group on Quantum Crystallography (SIG-02) of the European Crystallographic Association
