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Marco Grassia 🔬
Marco Grassia

Assistant Professor · Network Science and Machine Learning

University of Catania, Italy
NS

Workshop · NetSci 2026

NSIA 2026 — Network Science Informs AI

1 June 2026 Boston, USA · Venue TBC
About Me

I am an Assistant Professor (RTDa) in the Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering (DIEEI) at the University of Catania, Italy. I hold a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, with a dissertation on solving NP-hard graph problems through Geometric Deep Learning.

My research lies at the intersection of Network Science and Machine Learning, with a focus on novel computational methods for analysing complex networks and solving hard combinatorial optimisation problems.

Graph Neural Networks Network Science Geometric Deep Learning Combinatorial Optimisation Complex Systems

I currently conduct research at the Network Science Laboratory and contribute to ICSC (Spoke 3 — Astrophysics & Cosmos Observations), applying deep learning to astrophysical datasets. I am CTO of NetPlace and serve on the External Relations Committee of CSS/Italy (Italian Chapter of the Complex Systems Society).

Recent Publications
Salvatore Romano, Marco Grassia, Giuseppe Mangioni (2026). Beyond MMD: Evaluating Graph Generative Models with Geometric Deep Learning.
arXiv URL
Thomas Adler, Marco Grassia, Ziheng Liao, Giuseppe Mangioni, Carlo Vittorio Cannistraci (2025). Latent Geometry-Driven Network Automata for Complex Network Dismantling. ICLR 2026.
URL DOI
Mohammad Moradi, Morteza Moradi, Marco Grassia, Giuseppe Mangioni (2025). How Well is Human Attention Preserved in fMRI-Based Visual Brain Decoding?. Proceedings of the 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter.
Mohammad Moradi, Morteza Moradi, Marco Grassia, Giuseppe Mangioni (2025). How Well is Human Attention Preserved in fMRI-Based VisualBrain Decoding?. CHItaly 2025 - Proceedings of the 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter.
URL DOI
Marco Grassia, Stefano Pio Cosentino, Maria Letizia Pumo, Giuseppe Mangioni (2025). Machine Learning Supernovae’s Progenitor Characterization. 2025 33rd Euromicro International Conference on Parallel, Distributed, and Network-Based Processing (PDP).
URL DOI
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Recent & Upcoming Events
MSCx 2024: IX Mediterranean School of Complex Networks featured image
Networks

MSCx 2024: IX Mediterranean School of Complex Networks

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MIX-NEXT 2023 satellite @ Net-Sci 2023 featured image
Networks

MIX-NEXT 2023 satellite @ Net-Sci 2023

Multiscale & Integrative compleX Networks: EXperiments & Theories 2023

Net-Sci 2023 satellite Vienna, Austria | 10–14 July 2023

Learn more at …

Oriol Artime, Manlio De Domenico, Valeria d'Andrea, Marco Grassia
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MSCx 2023: VIII Mediterranean School of Complex Networks featured image
Networks

MSCx 2023: VIII Mediterranean School of Complex Networks

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Recent & Upcoming Talks

Experience

Visiting Researcher

Center for Complex Network Intelligence (CCNI), Tsinghua University

Research assignment at CCNI, Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence (THBI). Focus on advanced geometric deep learning methods for complex network analysis and optimization.

Assistant Professor (RTDa)

University of Catania

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), DIEEI, University of Catania.

Lecturer of Front-end Web Development

Free Mind Foundry S.R.L.

Course instructor in Front-end Web Development for the “.NET Training Program (2023)”. Topics include JavaScript, TypeScript and Angular.

Post-doctoral Researcher

University of Catania

Adjunct Professor (Professore a Contratto)

University of Catania

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), DIEEI, University of Catania.

Researcher

Consorzio COMETA

Research on the application of Network Science and Machine Learning techniques.

CTO (Chief Technology Officer)

NetPlace - Network Science Society

Responsible for the technological aspects and IT infrastructure of NetPlace, an initiative focused on scientific communication and outreach in Network Science.

External Relations Committee

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

Member of the External Relations Committee, coordinating scientific collaborations and participation to Italian, EU, and international projects.

Ph.D. Student

University of Catania, DIEEI

Graduated with a thesis on tackling NP-hard problems on graphs using Geometric Deep Learning, where I 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 University

Remote internship at 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

Worked on master’s thesis and on paper submitted to IJCAI-19. “Fine-grained search space classification for hard subset problems”. Application of Machine Learning techniques to Network Science.

System Integration and Home Automation Intern

Systemia S.R.L.

Designed and developed Amazon Alexa Custom and Smart Home Skills for integration with Vantage Controls devices.

Education

Ph.D. in Computer Engineering

University of Catania

Thesis focused on tackling NP-hard graph problems through Geometric Deep Learning.

M.Sc. in Computer Engineering

University of Catania

B.Sc. in Computer Engineering

University of Catania