Could you speak about your career and how it has progressed since graduating from UCLA?
After completing my PhD at UCLA in 1996, I began my academic career as an Assistant Professor at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid. I then moved back to Italy, joining Bocconi University in 2000, where I obtained tenure in 2002 and currently serve as Head of the Department of Social and Political Sciences. Along the way, I also spent time at the University of Lugano in Switzerland. Beyond academia, I have had the opportunity to contribute directly to policymaking, serving as an economic advisor to the Italian Prime Minister's Office and consulting for international institutions such as the OECD, the World Bank, and the European Commission. Combining academic research with real-world policy challenges has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career, and something for which my UCLA education prepared me particularly well.
How did the coursework and research you did as a student at UCLA prepare you for an international career?
UCLA shaped my approach to research in three fundamental ways. First, it exposed me to academic excellence in an unusually open environment, where even graduate students could interact directly and informally with leading scholars. Second, it encouraged a critical approach to research, teaching me to question established ideas and challenge conventional wisdom. Third, it nurtured my intellectual curiosity, inspiring me to explore new questions and venture beyond my immediate research interests.
How have you navigated cultural differences between your home country, UCLA, and where you work now?
Moving from Italy to California in the early 1990s was a major cultural shift for me. At the time, diversity was not widely discussed in Italy, and arriving at UCLA exposed me to a remarkably different social and cultural environment. I found myself in a world where people from very different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences came together, and I had a great deal to learn. I approached these differences with curiosity, observing, listening, and gradually broadening my own perspective. Looking back, I am particularly grateful for that experience. UCLA gave me an early understanding of the opportunities and challenges of diversity, preparing me for changes that would become much more visible in Italian society only many years later. It was an invaluable lesson that has stayed with me throughout my academic career, particularly in working with students and colleagues from around the world.