Experience

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  Terra Global Capital

  • Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area

  • Principal Remote Sensing Scientist & Geospatial Engineer

    • Oct 2023 - Present
    • Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area

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  University of Florida

  • Gainesville, Florida, Stati Uniti d'America

  • Postdoctoral Associate

    • Jan 2021 - Present
    • Gainesville, Florida, Stati Uniti d'America

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  University of Florida

  • United States
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • University of Florida Informatics Institute Fellow

    • Jan 2019 - Nov 2020

  • Graduate Research Assistant

    • Aug 2015 - Nov 2020

    Developed and implemented innovative algorithms for estimating chemical composition of trees and mapping tree species using hyperspectral and LiDAR data, utilizing HPC & cloud computing. Organized and published a data science competition on tree species identification from remote sensing imaging; also contributed to developing benchmark datasets for the same. Pioneered hierarchical Bayesian algorithms to identify the effects of environmental and phylogenetic drivers on plant traits distribution.Mentored a Computer Science student on related research and taught data & software carpentry workshops.Assisted in the development of a semi-supervised tree detection algorithm integrating LiDAR unsupervised learning and RGB deep-learning, and implemented evaluation pipelines for problems affected by ground-truth data uncertainty.

  • University of Florida Biodiversity Institute Fellow

    • Aug 2017 - Aug 2018

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  University of Florida

  • UF - Italy Fulbright Fellow

    • Aug 2015 - Aug 2016

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  CMCC - Centro euro Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici

  • Viterbo, Italia

  • Project related fixed term researcher (Project ORIENTGATE)

    • Jun 2014 - Jun 2015
    • Viterbo, Italia

    Developed and led the creation of novel theoretical models for estimating carbon allocation and storage in European forests, integrating a soil water and carbon module into an ecosystem model. Conducted extensive research on the impact of phenology, soil processes, and land use change on the biophysical properties of terrestrial ecosystems.

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  University of Viterbo "La Tuscia"

  • Viterbo, Italia

  • Graduate Student

    • 2013 - Jun 2015
    • Viterbo, Italia

    - Development of a PBM Forest Ecosystem Model (3D-CMCC-FEM) in C programming language (versions 5.1 and 6.1);- Calibration and analysis of different initialization schemes corresponding to different levels of Forest complexity: the case of the Carbon cycle in Brasschaat Scot pine and Pedunculate oak stands;- Analysis of the 3D-CMCC-FEM ability in estimating annual increment of a Scot pine stand in Santa Maria Maggiore (VB);- Development and integration of a soil Carbon Dynamics module in 3D-CMCC-FEM to simulate Soil Respiration and evaluate Net Ecosystem Carbon Exchange;- Development of a Carbon injection function to simulate the progressive use of Reserve Carbon by new born leaves during the Bud Burst phase;- Development of a semi-empirical model to simulate deciduous forests’ leaf senescence;- Development of an Evergreen Canopy Leaves turnover routine based on theoretical competition for light;- Improvements in the autotrophic respiration, phenology and littering routines;- Inclusion of the Perfect Plasticity Approximation Algorithm to determine Canopy structure and relation between different layers;- Integration of an alternative lighter Empirical Soil Carbon Dynamics Model (RothC) to be used alternatively to the PBM one;- Parameterization and Calibration of the most recent version of the model (version 6.1) for the most diffuse European tree species; - Validation of the most recent version (version 6.1) against a set of 6 Eddy Covariance site; validation of NEE, Reco and GPP on daily and monthly time step; Analysis of the inter annual, seasonal and monthly variability;- Parameterization, calibration and validation of the penultimate version (version 5.1) across 9 CarboEurope sites for daily ad monthly GPP; analysis of inter annual and seasonal anomalies;

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  CMCC - Centro euro Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici

  • Roma, Italia

  • Project related fixed term contract (Project Ghg Africa)

    • May 2013 - Jun 2013
    • Roma, Italia

    Reorganization of a database collecting some dendrometric information as to Ghana forests; creation of a wood density database, data exploration and analyses, with the scopus to understand and quantify logging and/or climate gradients impacts on ghanensis forests' healthinstruments used: Matlab and Excel

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  Terra System

  • Viterbo, Italia

  • Intern

    • 2012 - 2012
    • Viterbo, Italia

    Biometric data acquisition for PRENut project in hazelnut forestspartecipated in creating a georeferenced database of hazelnut properties in province of Viterbo

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  UNiversity of Viterbo "La Tuscia"

  • B. Sc. Graduate in Forestry and Environmental Sciences

    • Sep 2006 - Dec 2010

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  Forest Ecology lab. (DISAFRI)

  • University of Tuscia

  • Undergraduate Research Assistant

    • 2010 - 2010
    • University of Tuscia

    Riqualification and format of scientific Data affering to several Eddy Covariance meteorological sations

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  nstitute for Meteorology and Climate Research (KIT)

  • Garmisch-Partenkirchen

  • Short Term Scientific Mission (COST application)

    • 2010 - 2010
    • Garmisch-Partenkirchen

    first attempt to build up a formatted template to use worldwide as a standard in describing meteorological and biogeochemical data acquisition methods

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  Studio tecnico di agronomia

  • Viterbo, Italia

  • Intern

    • 2010 - 2010
    • Viterbo, Italia

    dendrometric analyses and amministration

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  Forest Molecular Ecology Lab

  • University of Tuscia

  • Undergraduate Research Project

    • 2009 - 2010
    • University of Tuscia

    fingerprinting of a population of Tamarix africana (Civitavecchia, RM Italy) using EST-SSR markers, to be used in the contest of a population genetics study over the nation (Italy)

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  Laboratorio di Sistemi Informativi e Inventari (SISFOR)

  • University of Tuscia

  • Undergraduate Research Assistant

    • 2009 - 2009
    • University of Tuscia

    digitalization of topographic maps affering to Cimini's mountains collaborated in the execution of dendrometric and geobotanical analyses in chestnut forests