Claudio Altafini

Background

I received a Laurea degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, in 1996 and a PhD in Optimization and Systems Theory from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, in 2001. I then moved to SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) in Trieste, Italy, where I stayed until 2013. Since 2014 I am a Professor in Automatic Control in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Linkoping University.

Research

My research interests are broadly in the area of modeling and control of nonlinear dynamical systems. Over the years I have been involved with very different applications, ranging from robotics to quantum mechanics, from biological systems to complex networks. In the last few years the focus of my research has been almost exclusively on the last two topics: Systems Biology and Modeling and Control of Complex Networks. See a description here.

New: Focus period

In September 2023 I am organizing a 5-week ELLIIT Focus period on "Network Dynamics and Control" in Linkoping.

Selected Publications

Complex Networks:
• C. Bernardo, L. Wang, F. Vasca, Y. Hong, G. Shi and C. Altafini. Achieving consensus in multilateral international negotiations: The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Science Advances, 7(51):abg8068, 2021.
• G. Shi, C. Altafini and J. Baras. Dynamics over Signed Networks. SIAM Review, 61(2), 229-257, 2019.
• C. Altafini. Consensus problems on networks with antagonistic interactions. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 58(4):935-946, 2013.
• G. Facchetti, G. Iacono, and C. Altafini. Computing global structural balance in large-scale signed social networks. PNAS, 108(52):20953-8, 2011.

Systems Biology:
• A. Zenere, O. Rundquist, M. Gustafsson and C. Altafini. Using high-throughput multi-omics data to investigate structural balance in elementary gene regulatory network motifs Bioinformatics, btab577, 2021.
• M. Mazzolini, G. Facchetti, L. Andolfi, R. Proietti Zaccaria, S. Tuccio, J. Treu, C. Altafini, E. M. Di Fabrizio, M. Lazzarino, G. Rapp and V. Torre. The phototransduction machinery in the rod outer segment has a strong efficacy gradient. Proc. Nat. Ac. Sci. USA, 112(20): E2715-E2724. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1423162112, 2015.
• G. De Palo, G. Facchetti, M. Mazzolini, A Menini, V. Torre and C. Altafini. Common dynamical features of sensory adaptation in photoreceptors and olfactory sensory neurons. Scientific Reports, 3:1251, 2013.

Quantum Control:
• C. Altafini and F. Ticozzi. Modeling and Control of Quantum Systems: An Introduction. Special Issue on "Quantum Control", IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 57(8):1898-1917, 2012.

See my publication page for a complete list (and preprints), or my Google scholar page.

Group

Current PhD students:

• Alberto Zenere
• Joel Nilsson
• Luca Lebon
• Ahsan Razaq

Postdoc:

• Carmela Bernardo

Visiting PhD students:

• Lingfei Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences

M.Sc. students:

• Marcus Evholt, Linkoping

Past PhD students:

• Angela Fontan, PhD in 2021 from LiU, now postdoc at KTH.
• Gustav Lindmark, PhD in 2020 from LiU, now at Eriksson.
• Giuseppe Facchetti, PhD from SISSA (Italy) in 2013, now Lecturer at University of Surrey, UK.
• Giovanna De Palo, PhD from SISSA (Italy) in 2012, now Associate Principal Data Scientist, AstraZeneca, UK.
• Giovanni Iacono, PhD from SISSA (Italy) in 2012, now Scientist at European Food Safety Authority, Italy.
• Mattia Zampieri, PhD from SISSA (Italy) in 2010, now Professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
• Nicola Soranzo, PhD from SISSA (Italy) in 2009, now researcher at the Earlham Institute, Norwich, UK.

Past postdocs:

• Gabriele Lini, postdoc in SISSA, 2012-13, now at VisLab (Ambarella company), Italy.

Teaching

From 2020 I am teaching the TSRT09 Control Theory course. In 2014-19 I was teaching the TSRT62 Modeling and Simulation course.

Some PhD courses I am teaching (or I have taugh) are:

• Nonlinear Control, normally given every second year.
• Opinion Dynamics on Social Networks, 2020, '22. (see Lecture Notes)
• Networked Dynamical Systems, 2015
• Systems Biology: nonlinear mechanistic models 2015.

See Teaching page for details.

Media coverage

Some of my papers were given attention in the media:

• A mathematical model may give more efficient climate talks, LiU news.
• Forming a government - how long will it take?, LiU news.
• Se Twitter anticipa Wall Street, Il Sole 24 Ore.
• Il Conformismo dilaga sui social network, Corriere della Sera.
• Social network: dimmi chi ti piace. Piacera' anche a me, Le Science.

Master Thesis proposals

I have several topics for Master thesis for Engineering students. Contact me if interested. Here are a few proposals (some in control, some "out of control", so to say):

• Controllability of complex networks
• Opinion dynamics on Social Networks
• Investigating the structure and organization of a drug-target network
• Inference of T cell gene regulatory networks and master regulators of diseases using ODEs