CV

Education

2017 – Ph.D. in Psychological Sciences
University of Bologna, Italy
Thesis: Affective Reactions to Aversive and Appetitive Cues: Evaluative Process and Emotional Arousal
Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Codispoti (SSD M-PSI/01)

2013 – M.Sc. in Psychology (LM‑51)
University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti/Pescara, Italy
Grade: 110/110 cum laude
Thesis: Aging and Emotional Events

2012 – B.Sc. in Psychological Sciences and Techniques (L‑24)
University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti/Pescara, Italy
Grade: 110/110 cum laude
Thesis: Emotional Memory in Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease

Academic Positions

2023 – present – Assistant Professor (fixed-term, RTD‑A)
Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience (DiBraiN), University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
Project: MNESYS – Multiscale integrated approach to the study of the nervous system in health and disease (Spoke 5: Mood and Psychosis).

2022 – 2023 – Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Assegnista di ricerca)
Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy
Project: Novelty and emotion in distractor processing (PI: Prof. Maurizio Codispoti).

2020 – 2021 – Research Scientist
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, College of Public Health and Health Professions,
University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Project: Neural circuits of emotion and motivation, with a focus on amygdala and striatal systems and their modulation by trauma.

2017 – 2020 – Post‑Doctoral Fellow
Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention (CSEA), Department of Clinical and Health Psychology,
University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Project: fMRI studies on neural bases of emotional perception, imagery, and anticipation.

2017 – 2017 – Research Assistant
Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention (CSEA), University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Project: Design of fMRI studies to critically test neural models of emotion.

Grant Support

2025 – Research Quality and Internationalization Fund
Role: Principal Investigator
Funder: University of Bari
Amount: €1,200

2020 – Exposure to COVID‑19 Trauma and Risk Factors for Developing Psychopathology
Role: Principal Investigator
Funder: Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Florida, USA
Amount: $99,813

2019 – Transdiagnostic Trauma in Anxiety and Mood Disorder Patients: White Matter Integrity in Sensory and Emotional Processing
Role: Principal Investigator
Funder: Center for OCD, Anxiety and Related Disorders (COARD), University of Florida, USA
Amount: $25,000