| 1. What's your role within grid computing? |
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I lead a group of 8 software engineers. Our goal is developing and bringing to operations Grid middleware for several Fermilab’s stakeholders, including the Open Science Grid, the Fermilab’s RunII High Energy Physics experiments, FermiGrid (the Fermilab Campus Grid), and US CMS. We write solutions for a wide variety of problems, including storage, workload management and resource selection, authorization, and accounting. I love our group especially for its diversity: among 8 members, we represent 7 countries of origin. |
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| 2. Why did you get in to grid? |
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To solve the computational issues of High Energy Physics experiments, moving to distributed computing was a natural evolution. I started my involvement with large distributed computing in 2000, helping the DZero experiment at Fermilab distribute its data to its computational centers. Then we introduced the distribution of jobs to computational centers. Then we introduced more and more services, until eventually we integrated the DZero infrastructure with LCG and OSG. Well… this distributed computing system started soon looking like a Grid. |
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| 3. What did you study at university? |
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I studied physics at the University Of Genoa, Italy, getting a Laurea in Physics, a degree equivalent to a master of science. It is through my connection with physics that I started working at Fermilab. I’ve then done a Ph.D. in computer science at DePaul University, Chicago, on large distributed systems. |
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| 4. What did you want to be at school? |
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Either a scientist or a chef. I ended up doing science… and now I cook for my friends for fun. |
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| 5. What are the highlights of your job? |
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I love when I see how our work impacts the amount of science that our colleagues produce. In High Energy Physics, there is a rush during late winter to get as much data analyzed as possible to make physics results available for the summer conferences. Distributed computing really helps with this process. Innovative publications and exciting discoveries are produced at a rate as high as never seen before, also thanks to the Grid. |
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| 6. What are the lowlights of your job? |
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I would like to have more spare time. I wish Italian research had more funds to ensure the brightest future to the young colleagues which deserve the best. |
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7. What do you do when you’re not at work? |
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As I mentioned, I like cooking for my friends. I like travelling, bicycling, playing piano, reading, and playing video games. I especially like doing all of the above with my wife, Maura. |
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| 8. What are your goals for the next year? |
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I believe that we should focus even more on the usability of the Grid. This is an exciting time for High Energy Physics: the next generation of accelerators, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland, will start producing data around September, right at the start of the new fiscal year. There is a very high expectation that that data will encode physics never seen before. To put that data to fruition, we need to make sure that physicists have more time to think about physics than about computing. Improving the usability of the Grid is our next challenge to help scientific discovery. |
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| 9. Would you encourage your children to get in to grid and IT? |
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I would certainly encourage them to get a well rounded education in the humanities (poetry, music, art, history, …): this is how you notice beauty around you. Science is certainly a moral choice: it is our path to enhance the quality of leaving for all mankind. In particular, IT can be rewarding for its intellectual challenges and practical applications. In any case, I believe I’d love them even if they decide to become lawyers (...just kidding…). |
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| 10. What do you want to be when you grow up? |
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I like the feeling of making things happen. A career in Grid computing has given me the opportunity to impact the scientific output of Fermilab, initially by developing and operating computing systems, later on by creating and joining collaborations and by organizing and executing new projects. At this point of my career, I’m focusing mainly on my management skills: I believe that, with time, I can give a valuable contribution to the scientific institution of the future. |
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