Born in Bari in 1965, he is associate professor at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Bari. Starting from his Phd thesis at University of Pisa, his research is focused on algorithmic methods in commutative and non-commutative Algebra, including software implementations, while recently he has analysed stream and block ciphers. He is an active member of the De Componendis Cifris and its MathCifris team.