Popularization activities

Besides my research activites, in the last fifteen years I have worked on several initiatives related to the popularization of the culture underlying computing and computer science at the University of Milan. Specifically, I am among the founders of the ALADDIN laboratory, between 2012 and 2017 I was appointed by the director of the Computer Science Department to be responsible for activities concerning prospective students and popularization, and between 2013 and 2017 I was in charge of the commission for prospective students and vocational orientation of the Science and Technology division.

Activities for prospective students and placement

I have been involved in students' orientation at the University of Milan since 2006, when I joined the committee for prospective students of the Computer Science Department, and I have headed the former between 2010 and 2017. Between 2012 and 2017 I was appointed by the director of the Computer Science Department to be responsible for cultural promotion and students' orientation, and between 2013 and 2017 I was in charge of the commission for prospective students and vocational orientation of the Science and Technology division. Specifically, I worked on the following activities.

• Meetings in high schools and organization of visits at the Computer Science department, with the aim of presenting teaching programs.
• Welcome day for first-year students of degrees in the computer science area.
• Presentation of teaching programs in the computer science area at the University open days.
• Organization of meetings between enterprises and students of the programs «Video Games» and «Predictive Modeling and Data Science» for the Master in Computer science on 29/01/2019.
• Organization of the combined school- and work-based program «Doing data science» between february and june 2016.
• Organization of the summer school «Computing as a scientific enterprise», in collaboration with Educandato Setti Carraro Dalla Chiesa, during 2015/16.
• Presentation of the teaching programs in Computing during the national finals of the First Lego League on March, 6/7 2015.
• Presentation of the teaching programs in Computing during the 2014 and 2015 editions of New Game Designer.
• Organization of the learning weeks «Let's play with Google maps» (2010 and 2012) and «The job of data scientist». for high school students.
• Series of lectures for high school students.

Teacher education

My teaching activities are in part devoted to the prospective high school teachers.

• Teacher of Computing education between 2015-16 and 2019-20 (within the master in Computer science).
• In-service teacher training for primary and secondary schools within the «Digit Iscol@» project organized by Regione Sardegna in 2016.
• Selection of the participants in the abilitation course for teachers of Computer Science (2012/13-2014/15).
• Teacher of Teaching 1 in the abilitation course for teachers of Computer Science (2014/15).
• Organization of in-service teacher trainin courses for primary and secondary schools at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia «Leonardo da Vinci» in 2013/14.
• Teacher of Computing education in the abilitation course for teachers of Computer Science (2013/14).
• Teacher of Operating systems and networks in the abilitation course for teachers of Computer Science (2012/13).
• Teacher of Symbolic processing laboratory in the Postgraduate school for teachers (2006/07).

Popularization of computer science

I have worked on the following activities for the popularization of computer science:

• talk at the conference «STEM with and in the city» about gender gap in computer science (Università degli Studi di Milano, 19/4/2017);
• talk at the conference «Gli stati generali dell'alternanza scuola-lavoro» about mixed work/university teaching programs in computer science (Università degli Studi di Milano, 10/4/2017);
• talk at the conference «Quando i matematici non entrano in aula» about informatics teaching (PRISTEM, Trento, 9/4/2017);
• presentations and round tables at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia «Leonardo da Vinci» during the European researchers night in 2015 and 2016;
• experiences for schools and general public during the European researchers night between 2013 and 2019;
• book «Alan Turing – La nascita dell'intelligenza artificiale», published by Grandangolo Scienza;
• the radio programme Digito ergo sum, broadcast on Radio popolare in 2011 and 2012;
• a set of experiences for school students and general public in the festival The adventure of science organized yearly between 2010 and 2012 by the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences fo the University of Milan;
• several information activities describing the modifications of the higher education system in Italy contained in law 230 of 4/11/2005 and law 240 of 30/12/2010 (the so-called Moratti and Gelmini reforms) and of its funding by the government (law 133 of 6/8/2008), addressed to professors and students of the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences and to the general public.

Informal learning of computer science

Since 2011 I collaborate on a project about the informal learning of computer science, involving experimentation at high schools, two BSc theses in computer science. The obtained results are described in some scientific papers. Building on this experience I participated in the following activities:

• the design and organization of a set of computer science laboratories addressed to high schools within the Matematita center between 2012 and 2017;
• the organization of the italian chapter of the Bebras challenge between 2015/16 and 2018/19;
• the organization of the challenge Kangourou of Informatics between 2011/12 and 2014/15;
• the organization of INFOCULT, a conference on the popularization of computer science, held in Gargnano (BS) in 2011.

Diffusion of software for scientific computation

My research activities often require me to write custom software, typically using tools I contribute to circulate through:

• participating and collaborating to the organization of the Mathematica Italia User Group Meeting;
• the textbook «Fare mathematica con Mathematica» (in italian);
• the implementation of free software.