Associate Professor @ UniUd

Team

I lead and supervise research in software testing and empirical software engineering, with particular emphasis on learning-enabled, autonomous, cyber-physical, and security-critical systems.

ASERU

The Automated Software Engineering Research Unit (ASERU) is part of the Models and Applications of Distributed Systems (MADS) Laboratory at the University of Udine. MADS is led by Prof. Marino Miculan and combines complementary expertise in software engineering, formal methods, security, and distributed systems.

🐇 Why ASERU? In Japanese, aseru (焦る) means to hurry, become impatient. Software should be tested before pressure and deadlines turn into failure. As the White Rabbit says, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”

🔬 Research opportunities: I welcome inquiries from prospective PhD, MSc, and visiting researchers whose interests align with my research directions.

Team Members

Vincenzo Riccio — Team Leader

Vincenzo Riccio

Associate Professor of Software Engineering
Founder and leader of ASERU

Michele Lizzit — PhD Researcher

Michele Lizzit

Research: Static analysis, software supply-chain security, and LLM-assisted vulnerability detection.
Related direction: Empirical security and trustworthy software ecosystems
Supervision: Co-supervised with Marino Miculan.
Expected completion: 2027
Selected work: Security Assessment of Private Package Repositories: An Experience on Acc-Py at CERN — JSEP 2026

Alessandro De Biasi — MSc Researcher

Alessandro De Biasi

Project: Black-Box REST API Testing
Expected completion: 2026.

Oliver Stevanovic — MSc Researcher

Oliver Stevanovic

Project: AI Agents and Secure Software Dependencies
Expected completion: 2026.

Matteo Pittis — MSc Researcher

Matteo Pittis

Project: Agentic Software Development
Expected completion: 2026.

Current BSc Students

  • INTERNET OF THINGS, BIG DATA, MACHINE LEARNING: Thomas Casasola, Davide Cossidente, Emanuele Driussi, Tommaso Trentin, Marco Ungaro
  • COMPUTER SCIENCE: Daniel Fragrante, Alessandro Gaio, Aleksandar Gajic, Fabio Pistrin, Michele Polo, Leonardo Sultato Tonon, Riccardo Tridente

Alumni

Maryam Maryam — PhD, 2026

Thesis: Generative AI Models and Automated Validators for Deep Learning Test Input Generation
Current position: Research Assistant at Lero, University of Limerick, Ireland.
Selected work:

  • Benchmarking Generative AI Models for Deep Learning Test Input Generation, ICST 2025
  • DeepNaqqal: Human-Aligned Automated Validation of Test Inputs for Deep Learning, ICST 2026

Tahereh Zohdinasab — PhD, 2024

Thesis: Exposing and Explaining Misbehaviours of Deep Learning Systems
Current position: Test Automation Manager, Sonova Group, Switzerland.
Supervision: Co-supervised with Paolo Tonella.
Selected work:

  • DeepHyperion: Exploring the Feature Space of Deep Learning-Based Systems, ISSTA 2021
  • DeepAtash: Focused Test Generation for Deep Learning Systems, ISSTA 2023

5 M.Sc. Theses

  • Riccardo Del Chin, 2025
  • Francesco Pinzauti, thesis title: “An Empirical Assessment of Vulnerabilities of the CERN Internal Python ecosystem”, co-advised with Marino Miculan, 2024
  • Lodovico Azzini, thesis title: “Opening the Black Box: Heatmap Clustering to Understand the Misbehaviors Exposed by Automatically Generated Test Inputs”, co-advised with Paolo Tonella and Tahereh Zohdinasab, 2022
  • Kiarash Jamshidi, thesis title: “Exploiting Video Games to Test Autonomous Vehicles”, co-advised with Paolo Tonella and Tahereh Zohdinasab, 2021
  • Raffaele Sellitto, thesis title: “Tools and Techniques for Memory Leak Detection in Android Mobile Applications”, co-advised with Anna Rita Fasolino and Domenico Amalfitano, 2017

35 B.Sc. Theses

  • 2023: Dario Simone, Stefano Monte
  • 2024: Lorenzo Biribin, Lorenzo Basoc, Oliver Stevanovic, Gabriele Saba, Gaia Simeoni, Giacomo Zampieri, Gianluca Fabris, Matteo Blonda, Iury Fior, Alessandro Gerotto, Alberto Movio, Nicolò Pettarin, Federica Zamparo, Nicola Revelant
  • 2025: Lorenzo Campo, Federico Del Bello, Federico Salvatore Delia, Federico Magnabosco, Thomas Omiciuolo, Filippo Salvatore Sturniolo, Jessica Tavano
  • 2026: Cristian Aquilino, Giulio Benes, Elvedin Dobrnjic, Alessandro Fabbri, Roland Gjopalaj, Filippo Mecozzi, Samuele Moro, Carlo Nordio, Gabriele Polizzotto, Cristian Radulescu, Moreno Scozzi, John Toniutti