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Marco Grassia

Assistant Professor · Network Science and Machine Learning

University of Catania, Italy

About Me

I am an Assistant Professor (RTDa) at the Department of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering (DIEEI) at the University of Catania, Italy. I obtained my Ph.D. in Computer Engineering with a thesis on approaching NP-hard problems on graphs using Geometric Deep Learning.

Currently, I work at the NetworkScience Laboratory where I research Network Science and its real-world applications. I also apply Machine Learning techniques, specifically Geometric Deep Learning, to learn high-impact problems or to solve or reduce the search space of computationally hard ones.

In my free time, I enjoy working on personal projects, practicing sports, playing video games, and taking photographs.

Interests

  • Network Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Geometric Deep Learning
  • Econophysics

Education

  • Ph.D. in Computer Engineering with a thesis on Network Science and Machine Learning, 2022

    University of Catania

  • M.Sc. in Computer Engineering, 2018

    University of Catania

  • B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, 2016

    University of Catania

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Lecturer of Front-end Web Development

Free Mind Foundry S.R.L.

Sep 2023 – Dec 2023 Catania, Italy

Course instructor in Front-end Web Development for the “.NET Training Program (2023)” training course.

Topics include JavaScript, TypeScript and Angular.

 
 
 
 
 

Assistant Professor (RTDa)

University of Catania

Mar 2023 – Present Catania, Italy

Untenured Assistant Professor (Ricercatore a Tempo Determinato di tipo A, RTDa). Teaching Foundations of Programming (2023-2024) and of Computer Science (2022-2023).

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering (L-8), Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (DIEEI), University of Catania, Italy.

 
 
 
 
 

Post-doctoral researcher

University of Catania

May 2022 – Feb 2023 Catania, Italy
 
 
 
 
 

Adjunct professor (professore a contratto)

University of Catania

Mar 2022 – Feb 2023 Catania, Italy

Adjunct professor of Foundations of Computer Science. Sections: J-Pr (2021-2022) and P-Z (2022-2023).

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering (L-8), Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (DIEEI), University of Catania, Italy.

 
 
 
 
 

Researcher

Consorzio COMETA

Nov 2021 – Jan 2022 Catania, Italy
 
 
 
 
 

External Relations Committee

Italian Chapter of the Complex Systems Society (CSS/Italy)

Sep 2021 – Present
 
 
 
 
 

Ph.D. Student

Department of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering (DIEEI), University of Catania

Oct 2018 – Oct 2021 Catania, Italy
Graduated with a thesis on tackling NP-hard problems on graphs using Geometric Deep Learning, where I also proposed a new layer to learn on signed and weighted networks, and a new meta-model to learn on multilayer networks.
 
 
 
 
 

Research Intern

Center for Complex Network Intelligence (CCNI), Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence (THBI)

Jul 2018 – Sep 2018 Beijing, China

Remote internship at the Center for Complex Network Intelligence (CCNI), Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence (THBI).

Research on network dismantling approaches that leverage the geometry of the network.

 
 
 
 
 

Machine Learning Intern

Nokia Bell Labs, Data Analytics

Jul 2018 – Sep 2018 Dublin, Ireland
  • Worked on master’s thesis and on paper that was submitted to the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence XXVIII – IJCAI-19
  • “Fine-grained search space classification for hard subset problems”
  • Application of Machine Learning techniques to Network Science
  • Worked in team with Post-Doctoral Researchers and Ph.D. students
  • Python, C++
  • Keras, Auto-sklearn, iGraph, graph-tool
 
 
 
 
 

System Integration and Home Automation Intern

Systemia S.R.L.

Jul 2017 – Oct 2017 Catania, Italy
  • Designed and developed Amazon’s Alexa Custom and Smart Home Skills to provide integration with Vantage Controls devices
  • Studied how to design Vocal User Interfaces (VUIs)
  • Gained familiarity with Amazon Web Services
  • Amazon Web Services IaaS, OpenVPN, Node.JS