YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARDS SYMPOSIA

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ISSNAF annually awards the Young Investigator Awards in various disciplines to outstanding, early-career Italian researchers working in the United States or Canada, in recognition of their significant and innovative contributions to their field of research.  ISSNAF is very pleased to announce the Young Investigator Awards of 2024 and it's grateful to their sponsors for their generosity.

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EMBASSY OF ITALY AWARD

FOR RESEARCH IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

 

Established in 2020, this year’s edition recognizes Italian researchers in the USA providing fundamental contributions to all aspects of artificial intelligence, including technological and engineering advancements, transformative applications across disciplines, education, economic impact, ethical development to support societal needs, and solutions to mitigate harmful use of AI.

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FINALISTS

Dr. Marco Romanelli, Research Associate, Rutgers University 
“Trustworthy Machine Learning: An information theoretic perspective”
 

Dr. Luca Luceri, Research Assistant, University of Southern Carolina 
“AI-driven approaches for countering online harms on social media”
 

Dr. Carmelo Sferrazza, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California Berkeley 
“Bridging the gap between embodied AI and human intelligence” 

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Chair

Prof. Fil Menczer, Indiana University

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Jury

Prof. Fil Menczer, Indiana University  
Prof. Leila De Floriani, University of Maryland  
Prof. Elisa Bertino, Purdue University 

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The Embassy of Italy Award Symposium will be held online on  
Monday October 21 – 9:45am PST
(link TBC)​

 

 

FRANCO STRAZZABOSCO AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING WITH FOCUS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

 

Established in 2013 by the Strazzabosco family in memory of Dott. Ing. Franco Strazzabosco, this award is a tribute to the entrepreneurial courage of Italian engineers who strive to apply scientific discoveries to the public advantage.

 

FINALISTS

Dr. Giulia Guidetti, Deputy Director, Research Assistant Professor, Silklab, Tufts University
“Orchid-inspired solar skins for next-generation photovoltaics”

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Dr. Claudia Cea, Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Conformable organic bioelectronic devices for health monitoring”

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Dr. Michele Cotrufo, Assistant Professor, University of Rochester 
“Engineered Metamaterials for energy-efficient optical computing and signal processing”

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Chair

Prof. Andrea Alù, City University of New York

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Jury

Prof. Andrea Alù, City University of New York 
Prof. Alberto Salleo, Stanford University 
Prof.  Matteo Rinaldi, Northeastern University

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The Franco Strazzabosco Award Symposium will be held online on  
Wednesday October 30 – 9:45am PST 
(link TBC)​

 

 

INFN BRUNO TOUSCHEK AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN  FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS
 

Established in 2022 by Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, this award honors the memory of Prof. Bruno Touschek for his pioneering work in the fields of elementary particle physics and particle accelerators. It recognizes contributions in the fields of fundamental interactions of matter, such as elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, cosmology and the physics of particle beams.

 

FINALISTS

Dr. Simone Michele Mazza, Assistant Project Scientist, University of California Santa Cruz 
“Critical detector development for high energy and nuclear physics”

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Dr. Antonella Palmese, Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University 
“Gravitational waves as a new cosmological probe”

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Dr. Luigi Marchese, Junior Distinguished Researcher, Fermilab 
“Seeing the invisible with creativity in high-energy collisions” 

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Chair

Prof. Patrizia Rossi, Jefferson Lab

 

Jury

Prof. Patrizia Rossi, Jefferson Lab 
Prof. Alessandro Ratti, Berkeley Lab 
Dr. Elena Orlando, Stanford University and University of Trieste

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The INFN Burno Touschek Award Symposium will be held online on  
Wednesday October 23 – 8:00am PST 
(link TBC)

 

MARIO GERLA AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
 

Established by the Gerla family in 2019, this award is in memory of Dr. Mario Gerla, pioneer in computer networking, professor of Computer Science at UCLA and ISSNAF founding member. 

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FINALISTS

Dr. Mario De Florio, Postdoctoral Researcher, Brown University 
“Scientific machine learning for dynamical systems identification”

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Dr. Leonardo Bonati, Associate Researcher, Northeastern University 
“Next-generation wireless networks with open and intelligent automated systems”

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Dr. Federico Rossi, Robotics Technologist, JPL and California Institute of Technology 
“Making teams of autonomous robots work effectively together in space” 

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Chair

Prof. Leila De Floriani, University of Maryland

 
Jury

Prof. Leila De Floriani, University of Maryland  
Prof. Fil Menczer, Indiana University 
Prof. Elisa Bertino, Purdue University

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The Mario Gerla Award Symposium will be held online on  
Monday October 21 – 12:00pm PST 
(link TBC)

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PAOLA CAMPESE AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN HEMATOLOGIC MALIGNANCIES
 

Established by Stefania and Vito Campese in 2011, this award is in memory of their young, talented and generous daughter Paola.

 

FINALISTS

Dr. Gabriele Casirati, Researcher Fellow, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children's Hospital 
“Epitope editing to enable targeted immunotherapy of Acute Myeloid Leukemia”

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Dr. Carmelo Gurnari, Associate Researcher, Cleveland Clinic 
“Trajectories of malignant evolution of bone marrow failure syndromes”

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Dr. Clarissa Corinaldesi, Associate Research Scientist, Columbia University 
“Intra-tumor heterogeneity and markers of resistance in pediatric Burkitt Lymphoma”

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Chair

Prof. Alessandra Ferrajoli, University of Texas 

 

Jury

Prof. Alessandra Ferrajoli, University of Texas 
Prof. Riccardo Dalla-Favera, Columbia University 
Dr. Simona Colla, MD Anderson Cancer Center

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The Paola Campese Award Symposium will be held online on  
Tuesday October 29 – 12:00pm PST  

(link TBC) 

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RnB4CULTURE AWARD
FOR INNOVATION IN THE STUDY OF ITALIAN CULTURE
 

Established in 2021 by RnB4Culture, this award recognizes the vibrancy of research in Italian culture and its evolving nature expressed in a variety of ways such as innovative uses of technology, or originality of approach, or contribution to wider questions and trends in the Humanities at large. 

 

FINALISTS

Dr. Laura Ingallinella, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto 
“The Fraudulent Muse: Gender and forgery in early modern Italy”

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Dr. Pantalea Mazzitello, Assistant Professor, University of California 
“Cursing and Laughing: Blasphemy in Renaissance Italian literature”

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Dr. Giancarlo Tursi, Assistant Professor, University of California - Santa Barbara 
“Italian dialects as world literature” 

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Chair

Prof. Franco Pierno, University of Toronto

 
Jury

Prof. Gianni Cicali, Georgetown University  
Prof. Stefania Lucamante, Università di Cagliari and Catholic University of Washington 
Prof. Stefano Jossa, Royal University and University of London

   

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The RnB4Culture Award Symposium will be held online on  
Tuesday October 22 – 11:45am PST  

(link TBC) 

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