Professor Alessandro Vespignani, one of the world’s leading experts in epidemiological models and forecasting science, is the new President of ISI Foundation, an international centre of excellence in the field of Complex Systems and Data. Vespignani was unanimously appointed by Fondazione CRT and Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita-CRT, the founding partners of ISI Foundation, established in 1983 under the leadership of Tullio Regge.
With a global network of hundreds of partner institutions, ISI Foundation tackles the challenges of complexity according to a strategic interdisciplinary approach, and nurtures a valuable exchange of knowledge with the broader scientific community, philanthropic entities and governments to promote social, economic and cultural growth.
The first Data Science for Social Good Center, set up by ISI Foundation and Fondazione CRT at OGR Torino, goes in this direction.
“I am extremely honoured to take the baton of the presidency of the ISI Foundation from the hands of the extraordinary scientists who preceded me,” says Professor Vespignani. “The pandemic has taught us more than anything else the value of Data and how it can be transformed into knowledge, which defines our ability to save lives and improve society. I am very happy to start a journey with the Foundation that will address the important challenges we face in this field’.
“Professor Vespignani’s prestigious presidency accompanies us into the future: together with him we will further advance the fruitful collaboration with ISI Foundation that was started many years ago in a visionary way by Fondazione CRT. Alongside the various fields in which ISI is an internationally recognised leader, it is now time to accelerate our exploration of the new frontier of the social impact of Data, which touches every aspect of our daily lives,” says Massimo Lapucci, Secretary General of Fondazione CRT and CEO of OGR Torino.
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Founder and director of the Northeastern Network Science Institute and distinguished professor at Northeastern University, Alessandro Vespignani has worked in the world’s leading research centres and universities: Yale University, Leiden University, International Center for Theoretical Physics (UNESCO) in Trieste, Université de Paris-Sud as a member of the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS).
He was Professor of Computer Science and Computing at Indiana University, as well as Director and Founder of the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research and Associate Director of the Pervasive Technology Institute.
A member of the American Physical Society, the Academia Europaea and the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard University, Professor Vespignani currently focuses his research activities on the development of epidemiological models and the analysis of the spread of infectious diseases, as well as the study of biological, social and technological networks. He has contributed to the global management of the Ebola, Sars, Zika and Covid epidemics, working with the World Health Organisation, the White House, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US and other international institutions.
