Education

* Education

- Postdoctoral Associate at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and Department of Mathematical Sciences - Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA-USA.

- Ph.D. in Continuum Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Structural Analysis, and Applied Mathematics. Consortium among the Universities of Florence, Bari, Genova, Pisa, Udine-Italy.

- Visiting graduate student at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and Department of Mathematical Sciences-Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh-PA-USA.

- Master degree in Civil Engineering, curricula "Structural Engineering" at the University of Bologna, with magna cum lauda.

Research interests

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS

Luca’s research ranges from topics of interest in Mechanical Engineering and also to ones that push the boundaries of Theoretical Mechanics to foundational aspects of such Discipline. 

Recent interests had been in the area of multiscale modeling and multiphysics of the dynamics of structured media, including applications to granular materials, rhelogy of concrete, mechanobiology, cell mechanics and multiphysics, hierarchical structures. In this respect, most of the recent papers apply principles of Solid Mechanics to interdisciplinary and emerging fields in Mathematical Biology, Biomechanics and Engineering Sciences in general. 

An example of such research is the mechanobiology of receptors involved in second messenger activity across the cell membrane. The principles governing such dynamics lead to a paradigm with the potential of explaining the entry mechanism of COVID 19 inside human cells. Link: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/uop-art061520.php?fbclid=IwAR2Q9bycOVCTmUgpdOlmsSc-3ePhKbAFXGdAWUr5Hhb4BQv4jy-vFand2EI

Research work

RECENT TALKS AND SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY
 

Spring 2021 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

January-June 2020 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

September 2019 

-Invited seminar at the Graduate Program in Applied Mathematics and Engineering at the National University of Galway, Ireland

-Invited seminar at CEE-Carnegie Mellon University

April 2019 Invited seminar at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

January 2019 Invited joint seminar at the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Civil & Environm. Eng., Carnegie Mellon University: Invited talk at the CAN seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2018 Invited talk at the Department of Structural Engineering-University of Naples “Federico II”

July 2018 WCCM 2018-NYC, Invited talk at the special session “Mechanics of biological structures”

April 2018 CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University-seminar 

May 2017  Cambridge UK, Dept. of Engineering-seminar

April 2017 Organizer of the minisymposium “Mathematical  models in Biomechanics across the scales: from cells to biological tissues” within  “5th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering”, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10 - 12 April 2017

March 2016  University of Bristol UK, Engineering and Applied Math. Seminar series

September 2016 ESB Conference, Palermo Sept. 2-8 2016, invited talk.

July 2016 International Center of Mechanics-CISM-course “The Role of Mechanics in the Study of Lipid Bilayers”, together with D.J.Steigmann (Berkeley), M. Deserno (Carnegie Mellon), M. Arroyo (Polytechnic University of Cataluna, ESP), J. Guven, (Univ. Mexico), R. Sauer (RWTH Aachen University).

May 2016 Invited talk at the Civil Engineering and mechanics seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2015 ASME-IMECE World Conf. workshop 52622, Houston TX

September 2015 Brunel University of London, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Eng.-seminars Aalto University-Espoo, Finland, Mechanics seminars

July 2015 Invited speaker at:

-ESMC-EUROMECH 2015-workshopon Cell Mechanics, talk on “Frequency-Based Mechanical Targeting of Healthy and Cancer Single-Cell Systems“, Madrid;

-CERMODEL- conf. Talk on “Mechanics of hierarchical ceramics”, Europ. J of Ceramics conf. series;

June 2015 Invited speaker at the Special Session #36 at the AMS-EMS-SPM, Porto

February 2015 Invited keynote at EUROMECH Colloquium 560: “Mechanics of Biological Membranes”, Ascona (Switzerland), ETH Zurich facility.

Etc.

Awards and honours

March 2008-Dec. 2013 Group of Mechanics of Materials, Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM-AIMETA), national coordinator 

Conferences and lectures

Spring 2021 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

January-June 2020 Invited seminars at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh;

             Invited seminar at the Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University

September 2019 

-Invited seminar at the Graduate Program in Applied Mathematics and Engineering at the National University of Galway, Ireland

-Invited seminar at CEE-Carnegie Mellon University

April 2019 Invited seminar at the Graduate Program of the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

January 2019 Invited joint seminar at the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Civil & Environm. Eng., Carnegie Mellon University: Invited talk at the CAN seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2018 Invited talk at the Department of Structural Engineering-University of Naples “Federico II”

July 2018 WCCM 2018-NYC, Invited talk at the special session “Mechanics of biological structures”

April 2018 CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie Mellon University-seminar 

May 2017  Cambridge UK, Dept. of Engineering-seminar

April 2017 Organizer of the minisymposium “Mathematical  models in Biomechanics across the scales: from cells to biological tissues” within  “5th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering”, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10 - 12 April 2017

March 2016  University of Bristol UK, Engineering and Applied Math. Seminar series

September 2016 ESB Conference, Palermo Sept. 2-8 2016, invited talk.

July 2016 International Center of Mechanics-CISM-course “The Role of Mechanics in the Study of Lipid Bilayers”, together with D.J.Steigmann (Berkeley), M. Deserno (Carnegie Mellon), M. Arroyo (Polytechnic University of Cataluna, ESP), J. Guven, (Univ. Mexico), R. Sauer (RWTH Aachen University).

May 2016 Invited talk at the Civil Engineering and mechanics seminar series, Carnegie Mellon University

November 2015 ASME-IMECE World Conf. workshop 52622, Houston TX

September 2015 Brunel University of London, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Eng.-seminars Aalto University-Espoo, Finland, Mechanics seminars

July 2015 Invited speaker at:

-ESMC-EUROMECH 2015-workshopon Cell Mechanics, talk on “Frequency-Based Mechanical Targeting of Healthy and Cancer Single-Cell Systems“, Madrid;

-CERMODEL- conf. Talk on “Mechanics of hierarchical ceramics”, Europ. J of Ceramics conf. series;

June 2015 Invited speaker at the Special Session #36 at the AMS-EMS-SPM, Porto

February 2015 Invited keynote at EUROMECH Colloquium 560: “Mechanics of Biological Membranes”, Ascona (Switzerland), ETH Zurich facility;

October 2014

SES-ASME annual meeting (Purdue IN):

- invited talk at the mini-symposium on Mechanobiology of cells and tissues (ref. A Agrawal UHouston, M Taher A Saif IL,T Lele U FL);

- invited talk at the mini symposium Soft Materials and Structures (ref. P. Reis, K Bertoldi, Harvard);

August 2014 Invited speaker at the UTA_CMU/MAT/0005/2009 workshop, Instituto Superior Técnico-Lisbon

July 2014 WCCM-ECCM-IACM-Eccomas 2014 Invited talk at the MMCM5-Multiscale and Multiphysics Modelling for Complex Materials

June 2014 Invited lecture at the ICFDA-International Conference on Fractional Differentiation and its Applications, Catania-Italy

January-April 2014 Invited talks at

- University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Civil Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Civil and Environmental Engineering;

- Carnegie Mellon, Center for Nonlinear Analysis;

-Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist, Health Science Center, Houston TX-USA;

Sept. 2012-Nov. 2013: Invited talks at:

-Durham University UK, School of Engineering and Computing Sciences;

-University of Michigan Joint Institute Jong Tong Shanghai (ref. O. A. Bauchau) ;

-SES meeting at Brown University, workshops on (i) nano-biomechanics, (ii) in honor of the SES medalist D. J. Steigmann;

-Columbia University, Dept. Mechanical Engineering (ref. J. Kysar);

-APS Workshop 'Soft-Matter, Biology, & Bioinspiration’ Baltimore, March 2013 (ref: C. Majidi)

-University of Lincoln Nebraska, Mechanical Engineering, Group of Solid Mechanics (ref. E. Baesu)

-Department of Nanomedicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston TX-USA;

- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Indiana University and Purdue University (ref. G. Guidoboni);

-Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Columbia University NYC (Ref. R. Betti);

-Caltech, California Institute of Technology, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (ref. C. Daraio;

-University of Pittsburgh, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (ref. A. Vainchtein);

-CNA-Center for Nonlinear Analysis-Carnegie-Mellon University (ref. D. R. Owen and I. Fonseca).

May 2012 Invited talks at University of Naples and University of Bologna, Italy

July 2012 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Graz: TU Graz

Aug 2011 Invited seminar at the Department of Engineering Sciences and Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland

etc.