Pietro Morasso was born in Genoa, Italy, on april 30, 1944 and is currently Senior Researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology (Department of Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences), Genoa, Italy, director of the Motor Learning and Robotic Rehabilitation lab (RBCS dept), since 2010. In this framework he also directs a Robotic Rehabilitation lab jointly established by IIT with the Children Hospital Gaslini in Genoa.
In 1968 he obtained a Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering cum laude, from the University of Genoa. Tutor: Prof. Giuseppe Biorci. In 1970 he started a collaboration with Prof. Emilio Bizzi at the Psychology Department of the M.I.T., first as a post-doctoral fellow (1970-72) and then as a Visiting professor (1973-1978).
His academic career at the Engineering Faculty of the Genoa University started in 1970, as an Assistant Professor, and then proceeded as Associate Professor and Full Professor in Biomedical Engineering until retirement (2009). During that time he was in charge of many courses, for engineering and medical students, he was Coordinator of the Doctoral Programme in Robotics (1991-97), Coordinator of the Doctoral Programme in Bioengineering and Bioelectronics (1998-2000), and Chairman of the Course of Study in Biomedical Engineering (1998-2009). He was tutor of a large number Master and PhD theses. For a decade (1995-2005) he was Scientific director of a Bioengineering Lab, integrated in the Hospital of Arenzano, that allowed bioengineering students to carry out projects of immediate clinical interest.
His research has been funded by a number of national and international grants, in particular EU supported programmes, since the very beginning in 1984 (early ESPRIT projects).
Awards: Marconi Co. Ltd Chelmsford UK (1968); Fullbright fellowship (1973); NATO fellowship (1978); Honeywell HUSPI Prize (1984); ZIF fellowship, Bielefeld, Germany (1999); Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2000); JSPS fellowship, Tokyo, Japan (2009)..
Scientific interests: neural control of movement, motor learning, neuromotor rehabilitation, robot-therapy, computational neuroscience, biomimetic humanoid robot control.
Author of 6 books, over 400 publications (https://sites.google.com/site/pietromorasso/), with an h-index of 52, i-10 Index of 150, and a total number of citations of 15010 (January 1, 2021).
Mailing address: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). Via Melen 83, Erzelli Bldg B, 16152 Genova, Italy.
Tel: +39 010 8172237
Email: pietro.morasso_at_iit.it
ORCID id: orcid.org/0000-0002-3837-8004