Thesis

Prerequisites

My cur­rent research focu­ses mostly on com­pu­ter scien­ce edu­ca­tion and algo­ri­thms for unstruc­tu­red data, such as gra­phs and hypergraphs.

How to ask for a thesis

The pro­cess of pai­ring a stu­dent with a super­vi­sor can be chal­len­ging in Trento, as in other Italian uni­ver­si­ties. Students typi­cal­ly reque­st a the­sis topic, and pro­fes­sors either pro­po­se ideas or decli­ne, often citing rea­sons such as being over­com­mit­ted, super­vi­sing too many stu­den­ts, or not having any avai­la­ble pro­jec­ts at the moment.

At times, I find myself in the posi­tion of having to decli­ne a stu­den­t’s reque­st for super­vi­sion. During cer­tain periods, I recei­ve four to five requests per week, and it beco­mes dif­fi­cult to pro­vi­de the neces­sa­ry level of gui­dan­ce to all students.

To help me assess whe­ther a stu­dent is a good fit for a the­sis under my super­vi­sion, I ask that you send me an email with the fol­lo­wing information:

• When you would like to start

• Your inten­ded com­ple­tion date (ideal­ly)

• The num­ber of exams you still need to pass to com­ple­te your degree

• The list of exams (as expor­ted from Esse3), inclu­ding the gra­des you have obtained

• Your gra­de point ave­ra­ge (voto medio pesato)

• A CV, if you have rele­vant expe­rien­ces beyond your uni­ver­si­ty courses

• Your per­so­nal inte­rests in the field of com­pu­ter science.

I pre­fer to super­vi­se the­ses that are either ful­ly exter­nal (intern­ship and the­sis com­ple­ted in a com­pa­ny) or ful­ly inter­nal (UniTN intern­ship and the­sis com­ple­ted at DISI). This typi­cal­ly cor­re­sponds to 15 ECTS cre­di­ts at the Bachelor’s level (appro­xi­ma­te­ly 2.5 mon­ths full-time, or lon­ger if part-time) and to 30 ECTS cre­di­ts at the Master’s level (appro­xi­ma­te­ly 5 mon­ths full-time, or lon­ger if part-time).

As for stu­dent selec­tion, the­re are a few pos­si­ble pro­fi­les I tend to look for:

• You’ve ear­ned a very good gra­de in Algoritmi e Strutture Dati (28 or abo­ve), have a strong ove­rall ave­ra­ge (26 or higher), and a genui­ne pas­sion for pro­blem sol­ving; or

• You’re inte­re­sted in com­pu­ter scien­ce edu­ca­tion; or

• You’re dra­wn to uncon­ven­tio­nal topics that have spar­ked my ima­gi­na­tion. Want exam­ples? Algorithms for ori­ga­mi geo­me­try, 3D-prin­ting mathe­ma­ti­cal objec­ts to teach blind stu­den­ts, gene­ra­ti­ve (com­pu­ta­tio­nal) art, the algo­ri­th­mic beau­ty of plan­ts, or algo­ri­thms for chess engi­nes — the cra­zier, the better.

So, don’t be shy — wri­te me an email! 

Current status

After rea­ching my maxi­mum num­ber of the­sis stu­den­ts in 2021 (24), I mana­ged to redu­ce the num­ber slightly in 2022 (23), and sin­ce then I’ve kept it below 20. The rea­son for this reduc­tion is sim­ple: I have other pro­fes­sio­nal com­mit­men­ts, and super­vi­sing too many stu­den­ts means I can’t dedi­ca­te the neces­sa­ry time and atten­tion to each one. If I decli­ne your reque­st, it’s not a reflec­tion on you per­so­nal­ly — it’s becau­se I want to ensu­re a rea­so­na­ble level of sup­port and qua­li­ty for tho­se I do supervise.

Each year, around September, I begin col­lec­ting requests from third-year stu­den­ts who plan to gra­dua­te in the sum­mer or fall of the fol­lo­wing year. For instan­ce, in September 2024, I’ll gather requests for the­ses to be com­ple­ted by spring/summer 2025. At the same time, I also con­tact com­pa­nies such as SpazioDati, U‑Hopper, Think-In, and research cen­ters like JRC (Varese) and FBK (Trento), asking them to pro­po­se the­sis topics. Some of the­se the­ses are outsour­ced to them — but only if I have strong con­fi­den­ce in the peo­ple involved.

	Forecast	Completed
2019		19
2020		18
2021		24
2022		23
2023		14
2024		17
2025	8	9

How to write a thesis

When I review the­ses, I often find myself giving the same sug­ge­stions repea­ted­ly. To save time (for both you and me), I’ve col­lec­ted them on this  page.