Short resume
I received my Laurea in Mathematics from the University of Milan (Italy) in 2001, and my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Milano in 2005, in the area of formal languages and automata. I've been assistant professor at the University of Milan (Italy), Department of Computer Science, since 2005.
Since 2010 I've been working on computing education, and co-authored several papers in the field.
I was one of the group leaders of WG5 “What we talk about when we talk about programs” at ACM ITiCSE 2022. I was a member of WG4 “Assessing How Pre-requisite Skills Affect Learning of Advanced Concepts“ at ITiCSE 2020 and WG2 “Fostering Program Comprehension in Novice Programmers - Learning Activities and Learning Trajectories” at ITiCSE 2020.
I served as Associate Program Chair of ITiCSE (2019-2022) and SIGCSE TS 2022, co-chair of ICER 2020 and 2021 lightning talks and posters track, member of the Program Committee of ICER (2019-2022), ISSEP 2018. I've served as reviewer for ICER, SIGCSE TS, ITiCSE, ISSEP (conferences) and Computer Science Education, Informatics in Education (journals).
I’m member of the ALaDDIn research group (ALaDDIn is the Lab for Didactics and Dissemination on Informatics). We design and offer workshops to schools with the aim of introducing pupils to basic concepts in informatics. We developed a professional development program for teachers, and a course on computing education for grad students, including a unit on programming education. In 2011, 2017, and 2019 ALaDDIn was awarded by Google within its CS[4]HS program. In 2016 ALaDDIn was awarded the "Best Practices in Education" award by Informatics Europe.
Former member of the International Bebras Board (Bebras is an international initiative aimed at introducing pupils to CS in a non-technical funny way), I’ve been in the Scientific Committee of the Italian Bebras Challenge from its inception.
I'm a member of the Working Group on Education Research of Informatics Europe. I'm a member of the National Laboratory on Informatics and School within CINI, and among the authors of the Proposal for a national Informatics curriculum in the Italian school (2019).