Luce? Who's that?

We are a team from Switzerland and all over the world, based at the Software Institute at USI. We work on computing education, with a focus on learning to program. If you are interested in joining us, check out our open positions.

Core Team

Happily busy with research, teaching, and service related to computing education.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Hauswirth Associate Professor
Dr. Luca Chiodini PostDoc
Joey Bevilacqua PhD Student

Current Collaborators

Working on a thesis or project mentored by Luce core team members.

Davide Frova Stage (2024-2026)
PyTamaro

Alumni

Contributed in immeasurable ways to where Luce is today.

PostDocs

Dr. Igor Moreno Santos PostDoc
Dr. Andrea Gallidabino PostDoc

PhDs

Dr. Luca Chiodini PhD (August, 2025)
Teaching Introductory Programming using Graphics as a Domain
Thesis
Dr. Andrea Adamoli PhD (November, 2023)
An Agile Concept Inventory Methodology to Accurately and Efficiently Measure Student Programming Language Misconceptions
Dr. Igor Moreno Santos PhD (September, 2023)
Sound Notional Machines
Dr. Luis Mastrangelo PhD (October, 2019)
When and How Java Developers Give Up Static Type Safety
Dr. Mohammad Reza Azadmanesh PhD (September, 2019)
Debugging by Filtering History Slices
Dr. Dmitrijs Zaparanuks PhD (February, 2013)
Algorithmic Profiling
Dr. Milan Jovic PhD (September, 2011)
Understanding the Performance of Interactive Applications

Former PhD Students

Dmitri Makarov Former PhD Student
Programming Languages for Heterogeneous Computing
Matej Vitasek Former PhD Student
Dynamic Program Analysis

Visiting

Tomáš Průcha Visiting PostDoc, Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (2023/2024)
Block-based programming misconceptions and their elimination
Peter Libic Visiting while PhD student at Charles University, Prague
Sciex Fellowship: Measurement and Modeling of Garbage Collector Impact on Observed Application Performance
Todd Mytkowicz Visiting while PhD student at CU Boulder
ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship: Rethinking Experimental Performance Evaluation

Master Thesis Students

Franca Bernhard GymInf (2025)
Erste Schritte im Programmieren und prüfen, ob sie funktionieren
Demo
Tiziano Marsetti MS (2024)
Math Mode, Textual Annotations, and Sub-Tree Visibility for Expression Tutor
Simone Piatti MS (2024)
Pedagogical Documentation System for Python
Marco Lichtsteiner GymInf (2024)
BioCode: Programmieren lernen mit Biologie
Demo
Isabella Gall GymInf (2024)
Programmierunterricht mit PyTamaro-Web für vier Klassen am Gymnasium
Demo
Giovanna Ceschi MSII (2024)
Imparare in modo creativo: esempi pratici di attività con PyTamaro per introdurre e rafforzare con la grafica concetti basilari di programmazione
Christoph Benkler GymInf (2024)
Effektivität von PyTamaro im Python-Unterricht: Auf Stufe Sek II (Gymnasium & FMS), im Vergleich zu Turtle
Demo
Sergio Mouzo GymInf (2023)
Fehlvorstellungen beim Erlernen von Programmiersprachen – Am Beispiel von Python
Nicola Dal Pian MSII (2023)
Introduzione alla programmazione con la libreria PyTamaro
Demo
Marco Tereh MS (2023)
A Typed Expression Parser for Python
Joey Bevilacqua MS (2023)
Automated Assessment of Student Understanding of Expressions in Their Own Code
Francesco Lardelli MSII (2023)
Curriculum in PyTamaro per i laboratori di informatica in seconda liceo
Demo
Cristian Sulmoni MSII (2023)
Introdurre alla programmazione con la grafica: sviluppo di percorsi didattici e attività con PyTamaro
Demo
Nino Wilkins GymInf (2022)
Bootstrap: Data Science für die Schweiz - Daten analysieren und visualisieren
Hans Adrian-Schmassmann GymInf (2022)
Lambda-Kalkül für das Gymnasium
David Eichenberger GymInf (2022)
lernbaum.ch: Programmierung einer webbasierten Unterrichtsplattform
Demo
Dario Biasini GymInf (2022)
lernbaum.ch: Programmierung einer webbasierten Unterrichtsplattform
Demo
Andreas Stoll GymInf (2022)
Bootstrap: Data Science für die Schweiz - Daten analysieren und visualisieren
Alessandra Vicini MS (2022)
Extension of Salesforce's Sustainability Cloud
Stefano Malagò MS (2021)
TSR: Tagging System for Qualitative Research in Programming Education
Armend Azizi MS (2021)
Expression Tutor Classroom
Luca Chiodini MS (2020)
Qualitative analysis of Mastery Checks in a programming course
Matthias Eberli MS (2012)
Performance Bottleneck Visualization
Mattia Gustarini MS (2010)
Informa Web: A Web-based Classroom Response System
Luca Della Toffola MS (2010)
Memory Locality Optimizations for Java Programs
Mahesh Kumar MAS (2008)
Micro-Benchmarks for Performance Counter Validation
Dmitrijs Zaparanuks MS (2007)
Capturing, Analyzing, and Modeling the Runtime Behavior of a Virtual Machine

UROP Interns

Amedeo Zappulla UROP (2025)
Analysis of Python programs from PyTamaro Web
Alessandra Sasanelli UROP (2025)
Analysis of Python programs from PyTamaro Web
Jeferson Jesus Morales Mariciano UROP (2022)
Expression Tutor for Python
Cristian Buratti UROP (2021)
Activity Builder for Expression Tutor
Jason Naldi UROP (2020)
Concept Inventory Quiz Platform for Research
Margarita Grinvald UROP (2013)
Web-based Clicker Features
Patrick Zulian UROP (2008)
Trace Query Language: Dynamic On-the-fly Code Generation for Efficient Trace Analysis & Visualization
Claudio Marforio UROP (2006)
Eclipse Predictor
Alessandro Gaia UROP (2006)
Eclipse Predictor

Interns

Jamila Oubenali Stage (2023)
PyTamaro Hour of Code
Giorgia Lillo Stage (2023)
PyTamaro Hour of Code
Fabio Marchesi Stage (2023)
PyTamaro Improvement
Davide Frova Stage (2023)
PyTamaro Hour of Code
Arnaud Fauconnet Stage (2023)
PyTamaro and 'Hour of Code' in French
Agnese Zamboni Stage (2023)
PyTamaro Materials & Hour of Code
Joey Bevilacqua Stage (2022)
Expression Tutor Service
Alen Sugimoto Stage (2022)
Improving the understanding of Scratch expressions in K-12 students
Agnese Zamboni Stage (2022)
PyTamaro Improvement and Materials
Joey Bevilacqua Stage (2021)
Expression Tutor Service
Alen Sugimoto Stage (2021)
Feedback Infrastructure for Expression Tutor

Bachelor Thesis Students

Tiziano Marsetti BS (2021)
Expression Tree Builder: A React Implementation
Renato Iannace BS (2021)
From Expressions to JVM Instructions
Nicola Brunner BS (2021)
Accessible Notional Machine
Mejrima Smajilbasic BS (2021)
Worked Examples for Expression Tutor
Joey Bevilacqua BS (2021)
Expression Generator
Federico Lagrasta BS (2021)
Beaver: Pattern Explorer
Luca Omini BS (2020)
Informa Coding Study Tasks with Automated Feedback
Thesis Code
Davide Ciulla BS (2020)
Stack and Heap Diagrams: A Graphical Editor
Thesis Code Demo
Stefano Malagò BS (2019)
Detecting Misconceptions in Java Code with PMD
Ardil Günay BS (2019)
Concept Mapping Recall Plugin for Informa Platform
Code
Albert Walser BS (2019)
Student Dashboard Plugin for Informa
Susanna Riccardi BS (2018)
Online Platform for Productive Failure
Renzo Cotti BS (2018)
Bytecode to Source Code Mapper
Andreia Faria Carvalho BS (2016)
Blaster: Back-in-time debugging
Code
Mohamed Mosa BS (2010)
Course Evaluation Web Application
Matthias Eberli BS (2010)
Listener Latency Profiler Eclipse Plug-in
Mike Godenzi BS (2008)
Linux Kernel Performance Monitors
Mattia Gustarini BS (2008)
Pharma Lab Management System
Alessio Bockmann BS (2008)
Eclipse CodeSearch