Pietro FERRARA
- Position
- Associate Professor
- Roles
-
Rector's Delegate for the University Website
-
pietro.ferrara@unive.it
- Academic discipline
- Informatics [INFO-01/A]
- Website
-
https://www.unive.it/people/pietro.ferrara (personal record)
https://pietroferrara.github.io/
- Office
-
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics
Website: https://www.unive.it/dep.dais
Where: Campus scientifico via Torino
Room: office Z.B03 (Zeta B building)
Office hours
On Monday from 9:00 to 11:00, by appointment via Calendly (https://calendly.com/pietro-ferrara), specifying in the notes if you want to do it online (GMeet platform) or in person, and the reason for the request (thesis, exam clarification, course content clarification, etc).
Teaching activity current year
Teaching activity previous years
Activities and research skills
- Academic discipline
- Informatica [INFO-01/A]
- Settore Scientifico Disciplinare (SSD) affine
- SISTEMI DI ELABORAZIONE DELLE INFORMAZIONI [ING-INF/05]
- Geographic areas in which the research experience mainly applies
- Regionale
- Known languages
-
(scritto: base parlato: base)
- Main departmental research areas and fields
-
Area:
Informatica Linea:
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Area: Informatica
- EcoDigify
-
- Funding body:
- EU - Erasmus+ KA
- Type:
- Altri finanziamenti per attività di didattica/formazione
- Role in the project:
- PT
- Sito di progetto:
- www.ecodigify.eu
- Starting date:
- Year: 2024 Length in months: 36
- Other members of the research group:
-
Agostino CORTESI
Mandira ROY
- Health_AI
-
- Funding body:
- EU - Erasmus+ KA
- Type:
- Altri finanziamenti per attività di didattica/formazione
- Role in the project:
- PT
- Sito di progetto:
- https://healthai.cankaya.edu.tr/
- Starting date:
- Year: 2025 Length in months: 36
- Other members of the research group:
-
Agostino CORTESI
- RIR SUPREME
-
- Funding body:
- Regione Veneto
- Type:
- Altri finanziamenti per progetti di ricerca
- Role in the project:
- PT
- Starting date:
- Year: 2025 Length in months: 24
- Other members of the research group:
-
Agostino CORTESI
Publication highlights
giacomo boldini, luca negrini, luca olivieri, pietro ferrara A Modular Framework for Stack-Heap and Value Abstractions , Proceedings of the 33rd Static Analysis Symposium (SAS 2026), Springer Nature, Convegno: 33rd Static Analysis Symposium (SAS 2026)
2026,
Article in Conference Proceedings - ARCA card: 10278/5126327
Olivieri, Luca; Pasetto, Luca; Negrini, Luca; Ferrara, Pietro An Overview of Termination in the Ethereum Blockchain , Blockchain Technology and Emerging Applications, Springer Nature Switzerland, pp. 226-248, Convegno: 4th EAI International Conference on Blockchain Technology and Emerging Applications (ISBN 9783032123343; 9783032123350) (ISSN 1867-8211)
DOI 2026,
Article in Conference Proceedings - ARCA card: 10278/5109729
Vincenzo Arceri, Luca Negrini, Giacomo Zanatta, Filippo Bianchi, Teodors Lisovenko, Luca Olivieri, Pietro Ferrara JLiSA: the Java frontend of the Library for Static Analysis (Competition Contribution) , Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of System (TACAS 2026), Springer, Convegno: 32nd International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems (TACAS 2026)
DOI 2026,
Article in Conference Proceedings - ARCA card: 10278/5112869
Luca Olivieri,
David Beste,
Luca Negrini,
Lea Schonherr,
Antonio Emanuele Cina,
Pietro Ferrara Code Generation of Smart Contracts with LLMs: A Case Study on Hyperledger Fabric , 2025 IEEE 36th International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., Convegno: ISSRE
DOI 2025,
Article in Conference Proceedings - ARCA card: 10278/5106388
Luca Olivieri, Luca Negrini, Vincenzo Arceri, Pietro Ferrara, Agostino Cortesi Detection of Read-Write Issues in Hyperledger Fabric Smart Contracts , SAC'25: Proceedings of the Symposium on Applied Computing, ACM PRESS, pp. 329-337, Convegno: 40th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium On Applied Computing
DOI 2025,
Article in Conference Proceedings - ARCA card: 10278/5091431
List of publications
Curriculum vitae
I have 20 years of experience in scientific research in the application of static analysis techniques to the software engineering process proven by about 80 scientific articles, 30 patents, 80 talks at various technical conferences, universities and fairs, supervision of a dozen of PhD, master and bachelor students, involvement in several research projects from the writing of the proposal to the development and conclusion of the project (full details in my long cv). I joined Ca’ Foscari University as a tenure-track assistant professor in November 2019, and became associate professor in November 2022.
Previously, from 2013 to 2019, I have been working in industry gaining experience in delivering prototypes and commercial tools to customers filling the gap between scientific research and development, and delivery of software products, as well as technical and commercial presentation to customers, evaluation activities, and preparation of commercial and technical documentation.
In particular, I was the Head of Research and Development at JuliaSoft SRL (a spin-off of University of Verona focused on the static analysis of Java, Android, and .NET programs) from February 2016 to November 2019 where I supervised the development of the scientific core of an industrial static analyzer and the dissemination of its scientific results. I was a Research Staff Member in the group of Mobile Enterprise Software led by Marco Pistoia from July 2013 to December 2015, and a lecturer at ETH of Zurich in the Programming methodology group under the supervision of Peter Mueller from April 2009 to July 2013. I obtained my PhD degree in Computer Science from the Ecole Polytechnique of Paris and the Universita’ Ca’ Foscari of Venice on May, 22nd 2009. My PhD thesis advisors were Radhia Cousot and Agostino Cortesi. I defended my PhD thesis on May 22nd, 2009 at the Ecole Normale Superiore. In addition, I was an intern at Microsoft Research in Redmond in the PLA group from August 20th 2007 to November 9th 2007 under the supervision of Francesco Logozzo.
Research interests
My research interests are focused on the application of rigorous mathematical theories to enhance the reliability, security, and performances of software by means of static analysis. Abstract interpretation is a framework applied to develop sound static analyses proving properties on all possible executions of a program. However, approximation is necessary to achieve computability, and the analysis might produce false alarms. Finding a good balance between precision, efficiency, and soundness depends on specific applications, and it usually requires deep research investigation. I am particularly interested in new scenarios where static analysis might have a relevant impact, and I have focused my recent research activity on mobile and .NET software.
Keywords: abstract interpretation, static analysis, mobile programs, software engineering, program verification, multithreading, security.
Professional experience
Nov. 2022 – Today: Associate professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Nov. 2019 – Nov. 2022: Assistant professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Feb. 2016 – Nov. 2019: Head of Research and Development at JuliaSoft SRL, Verona, Italy
Jul. 2013 – Dec. 2015: Research Staff Member at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, New York, U.S.A.
Apr. 2009 – Jul. 2013: Postdoc and lecturer at ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Education
Oct. 2005 – May 2009: PhD in Computer Science at Ecole Polytechnique of Paris, France and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Jul. 2003 – Feb. 2005: MA in Computer Science at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Sep. 2000 – Jul. 2003: BA in Computer Science at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
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