Riccardo Zecchina

Professor of Theoretical Physics at Bocconi University, Milan

Riccardo Zecchina is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Bocconi University in Milan, where he holds the Chair in Machine Learning. His research spans the intersection of statistical physics, computer science, advanced machine learning, and computational neuroscience.

He earned a degree in Electronic Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin, followed by a PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of Turin under the supervision of Tullio Regge. From 1997 to 2007, he was a researcher and head of the Statistical Physics group at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste. He later served as Full Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Polytechnic University of Turin (2007–2017). In 2017, he joined Bocconi University, where he established the Department of Computing Sciences and developed new degree programs in mathematical and computational methods for Artificial Intelligence.

Professor Zecchina has held long-term visiting positions at Microsoft Research (Redmond and Cambridge, MA) and at the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics and Statistical Models (LPTMS) at the University of Paris-Sud. His contributions to the field have been recognized with major awards, including the Lars Onsager Prize in Theoretical Statistical Physics from the American Physical Society (2016, jointly with M. Mézard and G. Parisi). He was also awarded an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (2011–2015).