Associate Professor of Numerical Analysis at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Bologna since 2021, she conducts research in numerical approximation and geometric modelling. Her research interests include, in particular, spline functions, univariate and multivariate interpolation and approximation, numerical methods for curves and surfaces, and their applications to computer-aided geometric design, statistics, robotics, and automatic motion control.
Education
She graduated with honours in Mathematics from the University of Bologna in 2003, with a thesis in Numerical Analysis on the blending of parametric surfaces. In 2007, she received a PhD in Computational Mathematics, specialising in Numerical Analysis, from the University of Padua, with a thesis on tension-controlled interpolatory subdivision schemes.
Academic career
After completing her PhD, she carried out research at the University of Bologna as a postdoctoral research fellow, initially at the Department of Mathematics and subsequently at the Interdepartmental Research Centre for Applied Mathematics (CIRAM) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
From 2014 to 2018, she was a junior fixed-term researcher, and from 2018 to 2021 a senior fixed-term researcher, at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Bologna. Since 8 October 2021, she has been Associate Professor of Numerical Analysis at the same Department.
In 2023, she obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification for the position of Full Professor in Numerical Analysis.
Research activity
Her research focuses on the development and analysis of numerical methods for the representation, interpolation, and approximation of data, curves, and surfaces. Her research topics include subdivision schemes, B-spline bases, generalised and multi-degree spline spaces, Pythagorean-hodograph curves, and the modelling of surfaces of arbitrary topology.
She is the author of numerous publications in international journals in the fields of numerical analysis and geometric design. She has participated in national and international research projects and has coordinated projects funded by INdAM-GNCS. She was Principal Investigator of the Alma Idea project “Mathematical Methods Supporting the Structural Optimisation of Green Means of Transport” and participated in the activities of the PNRR Extended Partnership 3A-ITALY.
She has spent several research periods abroad at the Center for Constructive Approximation at Vanderbilt University, the Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann in Grenoble, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the Université de Valenciennes.
She regularly serves as a reviewer for international scientific journals and research funding bodies, including the Austrian Science Fund, the Dutch Research Council, and the United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation.
Teaching activity
She has taught continuously at the University of Bologna in undergraduate and graduate degree programmes in mathematics, engineering, computer science, and industrial product design.
She is currently responsible for the courses Geometric Modelling in the Master’s Degree Programme in Advanced Mathematics for Applications and Numerical Analysis and Geometric Modelling in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Industrial Product Design. She also teaches Numerical Methods for Computing in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Computer Science for Management.
She has also taught within the PhD Programme in Mathematics at the University of Bologna.
Institutional responsibilities and academic appointments
She is a member of the Academic Board and the Executive Committee of the PhD Programme in Mathematics at the University of Bologna. She has served on the Quality Assurance Committee of the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Mathematics and is the Erasmus+ coordinator for the exchange programme between the University of Bologna and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Scientific and editorial appointments
Since 2025, she has been Vice Chair of the SIAM Activity Group on Geometric Design, having previously served as Program Director for the 2017–2018 term. She is a member of the editorial boards of Axioms and Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics – Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computation.
She served as managing guest editor of a special issue of Computer Aided Geometric Design devoted to Computational Geometric Design and as guest editor of a special issue dedicated to Paul de Casteljau.
She has served on the programme committees of numerous international conferences, including Geometric Modeling and Processing, Solid and Physical Modeling, and the SIAM Conference on Computational Geometric Design. She was program co-chair of the 2019 SIAM Conference on Computational Geometric Design and has organised several minisymposia and thematic sessions at international conferences.
Scientific affiliations
She is a member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the Italian Mathematical Union, and the INdAM National Group for Scientific Computing.
