Roberto Capuzzo Dolcetta (RCD) was born in Milan (Italy) on Nov. 1st 1953.
Married with one child. He is living in Roma.
He got his high-school degree at the Liceo Classico E.Q. Visconti (Roma).
He took his Laurea degree "cum laude" at the University of Roma La Sapienza in July 1977. Preparing his dissertation thesis he was supported by a fellowship provided by the Italian National research Council (CNR). After his Laurea he had another CNR fellowship until 1980, when he won two national wide competitions for permanent positions in the research staff of the observatories and of the universities. Before this he got also a Fulbright-Hays fellowship for studying in the USA. In 1980 he also was awarded of a research contribution by SISSA.
The didactic activity of RCD is very relevant, both on the point of view of direct teaching than that of organization duties.
Since July 1980 to July 2000 he has been working as full researcher at the University of Roma La Sapienza. In July 2000 he won a concourse as associate professor in astronomy and astrophysics (FIS/05) at the University La Sapienza, where now he teaches Numerical Methods for Astronomy, Superior Astrophysics and Stellar Astrophysics. He has also taught advanced calculus, theoretical mechanics, gravitational physics, celestial mechanics, stellar dynamics, etc.
He gave a series of lecture for PhD students in Astronomy and Physics of La Sapienza, as well as for PhD students in Physics of the univ. of Pavia.
He followed as supervisor more than 80 Laurea and Laurea Magistrale Theses and 12 PhD Theses in Astronomy, Physics and Mathematics.
He has taught in USA (1995) at the University of Washington at Seattle the course for undergraduates "Extragalactic astronomy and cosmology" and at the Boston University, where he gave lectures for graduate students on the topics of galaxies and stellar clusters.
He has given in 2008 two 3 hour lectures for the LUMSA 2nd level Master in Tutela Ambientale e Sviluppo Sostenibile.
He has given in 2010 one 2 hour lecture for the international 2nd level Master in Biogiuridica at the Biogem Inst. in Ariano Irpino (directed by Prof. O. Zecchino ans Prof. Gaetano Salvatore).
Since 2008 He is chairman of the PhD program in Astronomy of La Sapienza.
He is, since October 2012, member of the Scientific Board of the 2nd level Master in Calcolo Scientifico (Scientific Computing) of Sapienza, Univ. di Roma.
He is supervisor of the bachelor course in Physics and Astrophysics and of the MSci in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
His research activity is ongoing since 1980. It is mainly theoretical, in the field of stellar clusters, both galactic and extragalactic. He is also an expert in sophisticated numerical methods to deal with large self-gravitating N-body systems. He obtained, among others, important results concerning evolution and dynamics of the globular cluster systems in galaxies, proposing a new original explanation for mass accretion and activity of galactic nuclei.
He is leader of a scientific group at the Dep. of Physics,
Sapienza Univ. di Roma.
The
He wrote more than 160 scientific papers published in international
magazines and international Proceedings, as well as didactic notes and
papers of science popularization and the book "L'Universo" printed by
Mondadori Publ.
A detailed description of his scientific activity and a summary of main results is
found in
here.
The most important results obtained are:
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is important noting that all the RCD papers are written in
small collaborations, the number of authors ranging from one to five. This is
important to keep in mind when evaluating bibliometric parameters which should
be weighted with the number of authors in order to give a reliable indication
of the quantity of work done and its impact.
Among the various international collaboration, the most relevant have been with P. Hodge (Univ. of Washington, Seattle, USA), D. Merritt (Rochester Inst. of Technology, Rochester, USA), one of the most eminent theoretical astrophysicists, R. Spurzem (ARI, Heidelberg and National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC), China) and S. Portegies Zwart (Sterrewacht Leiden) both eminent experts in stellar dynamics and computational methods, and S. Mikkola (Tuorla Obs., Turku, Finland) leader in the few-body studies..
He is in constant touch with S. Aarseth (Cambridge, UK) and D. Heggie (Dep. of Math., Edinburgh, UK) and P. Kroupa (Argelander Inst., Bonn, Germany).
All of them are available to send reference letters.
RCD is one of the promoter of the project ASTROCOMP, that was financed by the
CNR, that lead to the production of a web portal that allows to use parallel codes for astrophysical simulations, as well as CPU time on large parallel platforms.
He gave invited talks and colloquia in several national and international institutions, among which Roma, Bologna, Napoli, Firenze, Padova, Torino; Boston, Heidelberg, Parigi, Mosca, Seattle, S. Pietroburgo, Victoria (Can), etc.
He has served as referee for all the main astrophysical journals, as well as for Computer Science and applied Physics and Mathematics journals.
He is member of the Commissione per la Promozione della Cultura Italiana all'Estero of the Foreign Affairs Italian Ministry (MAE).
He has been member (2008-2010)of the Scientific Board of the INAF-CINECA agreement for high performance computing resources.
He is member (since 20010 on) of the Allocation Committee of
the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) with the specific role of leader of the panel "Universe Sciences".
He is member of many scientific societies (like Astronomical Society of the
Pacific and Astronomical Society of India) and President of La Gravita', society for science popularization, which since 1998 obtains grants from MIUR in the frame of the national project for scientific culture diffusion.
He is in the editorial board of the ISRN Astronomy and
Astrophysics journal.
Since June 2001 to February 2010 he has been member of the Time Allocation Committee in the frame of the INAF-CINECA supercomputing agreement.
Since may 2010 he is scientific reviewer for ISCRA (Italian Super Computing Research Allocation) at CINECA.
He participates to the project PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe) which prepares the creation of a persistent pan-European HPC service.
In this frame he is the responsible for the panel Universe Sciences of the Access Committee, since 2009 on.
He participates to the AstroSim program which brings together European computational astrophysicists working on a broad range of topics from the stability of the solar system to the formation of stars and galaxies, chaired by prof. B. Moore and funded by ESF.
He has also been member in 2002-2003 of the commission board (together with M. Rodono', A. Tornambe', F. Palla and L. Tagliaferri) of a nation wide INAF concourse for 10 permanent positions as Astronomo Associato.
He has been, in 2005, member of the commission board (together with S. Shore and C. Rossi) for a nation wide concourse for a permanent position of full research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (FIS/05) posted by Univ. of Pisa.
He has also been member in 2007-2008 of the commission board for the selection of candidates for 80 fellowships offered by the Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione contro gli infortuni sul Lavoro (INAIL) dedicated to students who developed and presented projects concerned with safety in the living and work environments.
He has also been member in 2008 of the commission board of a nation wide INAF concourse for 1 permanent positions as Primo Ricercatore - II level in the scientific area "Stars, stellar populations and interstellar medium" offered by INAF, Obs. of Arcetri (Firenze).
He has also been member in 2009 of the commission board for the selection of candidates for one technical position VIII level offered by INAF, Obs. of Arcetri (Firenze).
It may be interesting reading this note published by RCD on ROARS.
CONFERENCE, SCHOOL AND WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION
He has been in the organizational board of six scientific meetings and schools:
OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES
He has been, and still is, member of the Comsiglio Universitario Nazionale
(CUN), responsible since 1999 to 2006 of the Area 02 (Physics).
Since 2006 to 2011 he served in the Presidential Board
(Giunta di presidenza) of the CUN. In this framework,
he has spent much of his time in an activity of general interest.
PRESENCE IN SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS
He has been member (2001-2008) of the Time Allocation Committee of the INAF-CINECA agreement for high performance computing resources.
RELEVANT OFFICIAL ACTIVITIES
He has been since 2002 to 2005 chairman of the control committee of the INAF-CINECA supercomputing agreement.
OTHERS
It may be relevant noting the invitation that R. Capuzzo Dolcetta had in September 19 2012 to give a hearing on sustainable energy production at the European Commission in Bruxelles, where he presented a talk on modern aspects of Nuclear fusion energy production.
Giovanni Montani
November 2012