Welcome to my personal homepage

I am Professor of Computer Science at the "Dipartimento di Informatica" of the University of Salerno. My reasearch interests include Algorithms, Distributed Systems, Cryptography, Network Security, and Computer Music. I got my PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I am director of the Musimathics Laboratory. I am a co-founder of the academic spin-off eTuitus. I have been a Research Scientist at Akamai.

Short bio

I was born in Gesualdo (AV), Italy, in 1968. I got a Laurea from the University of Salerno (Italy) in 1991, a Dottorato from the University of Napoli (Italy) in 1998, and a MS in 1997 and a PhD in 2000 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). All of the above degrees are in Computer Science (with variations on the actual formal name, including Mathematics and Engineering). I have got also a diploma in pianoforte, in 2007, from the Music Conservatory of Salerno, Italy.

Shortly after the Laurea I was awarded fellowships from the University of Salerno and from the Italian National Council for Research (CNR). In 1992, 1993 I have been a visiting student at Columbia University in New York. In the Summer of 1998 I have been a guest member of the Secure Systems Research Department at AT&T Labs-Research, Florham Park, NJ.

At MIT I was member of the Theory of Distributed Systems group (TDS) headed by Nancy Lynch in the Laboratory for Computer Science (which has now merged with the AI Lab to become CSAIL). I have been Teaching Assistant for the Introduction to Algorithms class for Proff. C.E. Leiserson, S. Goldwasser and B. Maggs. However most of my time at MIT was spent as Research Assistant to Prof. Nancy Lynch who has supervised my MS thesis and my PhD thesis. Prof. Alfredo De Santis has supervised my Laurea thesis and my Dottorato thesis. In 2000 and 2001 I have been a Research Scientist at Akamai Technologies, where I worked in the Distributed Data Collection group. I have been a member of the Akamai team that received the 2018 SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award.

Since 1998 I am with the Computer Science department of the University of Salerno, from 1998 through 2001 as Research Associate, from 2001 through 2017 as Associate Professor and since 2017 as Professor.

In 2014 I co-founded the academic spin-off eTuitus that offers security related services and software.

I have taught classes on Algorithms and Data Structures, Distributed Algorithms, Programming Languages, Operating Systems, Computer Networks, Computer Networks Security. I am currently teaching classes on Advanced Algorithms, Android Mobile Programming and Computer Music.

My reasearch interests include Algorithms, Distributed Systems, Cryptography, Network Security, Computer Music.

I regularly serve as referee for scientific journals and conferences. Journals for which I have refereed papers include Distributed Computing, Theoretical Computer Science, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IEEE Transaction on Forensics and Security, Discrete Applied Mathematics; conferences for which I have refereed papers include PODC, WDAG/DISC, FOCS, ICALP, SPAA, ISIT. I have been general chair for DISC (DIStributed Computing) in 2003, which was held in Sorrento, Italy and for 5 editions of SCN (Security and Cryptography for Networks), from 2006 through 2014, held in Amalfi, Italy. I have been the organizing chair for PODC 2022, which was held in Salerno, Italy.

I lead the Musimathics Laboratory at the Dipartimento di Informatica of the University of Salerno where we study topics across computer science and music. I have been pianist of the tango band 30inTango, and currently I am pianist of the tango band TANGOSTRESS (previously named trio Malajunta de Los Pebetes). I played the alto sax with the Jazz Orchestra of the University of Salerno. The orchestra has been in activity from 1998 through 2016. I sing in the a cappella pop choir that started as CoroPop of the University of Salerno to became CoroPop of Salerno.

Papers

I do not update this information since you can easily get an almost complete list of my publications from the DBLP database: DBLP for Roberto De Prisco.

• Revisiting the Paxos algorithm
• On building blocks for distributed systems

If you are intereseted in one of my papers and you cannot get a copy from the official source (journal or conference publisher), please contact me.

Personal

The TANGOSTRESS band is a continuation of the tango band 30inTango that was part of the Musicateneo association at the University of Salerno, together with other music groups, and that has been active from 2008 through 2013. I have been pianist and arranger of the 30inTango and with this ensemble I recorded the CD companion of a biography of argentinian musician Eduardo Rovira (Oèdipus Editor, ISBN 978-88-7341-159-8). The CD contains two pieces by Eduardo Rovira (which I have arranged for the 30inTango sextet) and one which I have dedicated to Rovira. Below you can find the audio files:

Jazz Orchestra
I played the saxophone with the Jazz Orchestra of the University of Salerno (the webpage is in Italian). With this orchestra I played at the internationally renowned Umbria Jazz festival, Perugia, Italy, in 2012.

• Video-demo Orchestra at Umbria Jazz 2012 (24MB)

CoroPop
I sing in the CoroPop of the University of Salerno, an "a cappella" choir with a pop reportoire. The director of the choir is Ciro Caravano. With the choir I recorded a CD in 2011. We participated in three national TV shows. In 2011, we were hosted by "Neri per Caso" in the show "I Raccomandati" (RAI 1), in 2016 we participated in the show "Italy's Got Talent" (Canale 5) and in 2019 we performed with "Elio e le storie tese" in the show "Stati Generali" (RAI 3).

Videos from "I Raccomandati":

• First performance (with Neri per Caso) - 46MB
• Second performance - 24MB

Basta Pasta Week
This is old stuff (ca. 1996) resurrected for some friends ... anyway you might find some useful recipes!!! The links at the bottom of the pages refer to my old webpage at MIT.

• Basta Pasta Week
• Basta Pasta Farewell Party
• Back to Basta Pasta Party
• Recipes
• Matteo and Roberto's Weekly Menu

Soccer
I played soccer mostly with the US Gesualdo team, the team of my birthplace. My participation was scattered through many years starting from the late 80s through 2018, with many years of absence. On the left is a picture of the team in 1990 and on the right a picture of the team in 2016.

While at MIT I played with the MIT grad soccer team. In the picture I am easily recognizable by the yellow socks. I used to wear either yellow or red socks, for no reason other than that those socks were my own and they fit my feet better than the black ones of the team's uniform (regardless of what Bashar, 4th from the right in the standing row, may be saying!).
With this team, we won the 2001 Bay State Soccer League. We also won both the League and the Bay State Cup in 1996. In 2004 the team won again the Bay State Soccer League (I had already left Boston at that time).
I scored a total of 77 gaols in 6 years.

Since 2002 I play with the futsal team of the university of Salerno. We participate in a yearly national tournment against several other Italian universities. Below are two pictures of the team.

Hockey
I also enjoyed playing hockey. I had to learn from scratch since I could not even skate in the beginning. I never learned to skate backwards, but after a couple of years I was able to go forward quite fast and to brake. That was enough to play decently in the MIT D league with the Lab for Computer Science's Halting Problem team. On the left is a picture of this team for the year 2001. I scored a total of 3 (!!!) goals with this team, 2 of which in my last game. I actually scored also one other goal in a game played with the hockey team of the Math department. That makes a total of 4 (!!!) goals in my hockey career ;-).
The picture on the right shows an action of a game where I am waiting (right in front of the goally) for an assist from Charles Leiserson (no. 75). Unfortunately I did not score that time.