Place and date of birth: Palermo, 31 August 1971

Nationality: Italian

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in “Logistics and management, for quality, environment and security” (University of Palermo), Italy

January 01, 2007 to May 12, 2010

Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerche sulla Programmazione Informatica dell’Economia e delle Tecnologie (CIRPIET). Hosting Institution: Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Environmental Applications (DIIAA), Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (MediLab). Doctoral Fellowship of “Regione Sicilia Government”.

Research Topic on “Precision viticulture: Remote Sensing and GIS application in the evapotranspiration assessment for the water management”.

Advisors: Prof. Ing. Michele Torregrossa (DIIAA).

Abroad Advisor: Prof. Lars Pierce (California State University of Monterey Bay - CSUMB)

Industrial Liaison Office (University of Palermo)

March 27 to September 21, 2006

Attendance to the high specializing course of: Expert in innovation and technological development.

Faculty of Biological Science (University of Palermo)

January 8, 2002

Qualification of Professional Biologist, by the Italian State Examination. Final grade: 150/150

Bachelor in Biological Science and Master Degree in Marine Ecology (University of Palermo)

June 15, 2001

Five Years Degree in Biological Sciences, Specialization in Marine Ecology. Final grade: 108/110.

Experimental Thesis: A Methodology for Ecological Evaluation of the Natural Marine Reserve of Capo Gallo - Isola delle Femmine: Development of a GIS Application.

Advisors:                   Prof. Silvano Riggio, Prof. Renato Chemello (Department of Animal Biology)

Liceo Scientifico Statale “A. Einstein” of Palermo, Italy

High school diploma, specializing in Scientific Studies.

Language Skills

Italian: Mother Tongue

English: Professional working proficiency (speaking, listening, reading and writing)

European Commission – Joint Research Center (EC/JRC, Ispra), Italy

Attendance of the English Level 7 (C1) Course. February 02 to June 11 2015.

Attendance of the English Level 6 (B2) Course. September 09, 2014 to January 08, 2015.

Attendance of the English Level 5 (B1) Course. February 04 to June 12, 2014.

All levels (from A1 to the higher C2) are set in accordance with the European Language Portfolio (ELP, http://www.coe.int/en/web/portfolio/home).

NASA Ames Research Park (California, USA)

Spent seven months for research. May 1 to November 14, 2008.

ELS Language Center (Southern Polytechnic), Atlanta (Georgia), USA

June 25 to July 20, 2001

Attendance of the Intermediate English Course for Foreigners.

Computer Skills

Operative Systems: UNIX/LINUX, MAC-OS X, MS-Windows.

Programming Languages: Python 2.7, IDL 8.2, PCRaster (GIS), GDAL/OGR, R 3.2., Oracle SQL, PostgreSQL, GRIB-API (ECMWF), Unix Shell Scripting.

Software GIS / Remote Sensing: ArcGIS 10.2, Grass 7.2, QGIS 2.8, Idrisi 32, Envi 5.0, Erdas Imagine 8.4, Surfer 7.

Other Software: MS-Office.

Work Experience on Environmental modelling GIS and Remote Sensing Applications

IBF Servizi S.r.L.

February 01 2020 – Today

Senior GIS and Remote Sensing Analyst to provide support in the field of precision farming and geocomputing. Main task is the development of a set of python scripts for the automatization of several processing tasks of satellite (sentinel 2) data with field data to support the agronomical decisions (DSS).

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany

January 15, 2018 – January 24, 2020

Biodiversity Informatics Scientist to support the iDiv Synthesis Group (sDiv) projects with informatics capacity as well as sDiv researchers by developing data integration and analytical tools/pipeline as per the project requirements. Collaborate closely with the Biodiversity Informatics Unit (BDU) ensuring that, where appropriate, the tools become integrated into the iDiv Biodiversity Data Portal. Jointly work with the BDU and other iDiv researchers for building iDiv biodiversity research data infrastructure and services and for integrating existing tools and components. Writing scientific papers and present results at national and international meetings. Teaching at iDiv.

European Commission – Joint Research Center (EC/JRC, Ispra), Italy

November 04, 2013 – October 31, 2016

Scientific/Technical Support Officer - Grantholder cat.30 for a three years Post-Doc position at the Forest Resources and Climate Unit (H03) of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (EC/JRC) for RS/GIS support (analyst programmer). Main activities were the implementation of the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) and the improvement and integration of a new methodology for the fire emissions and dispersion assessment into the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), under the supervision of the project leader Dr. Jesus San Miguel. MODIS/VIIRS fire products (burned areas) were processed into an integrated model, with meteorological data (ECMWF, DWD), DEMs, maps of forest types and fire fuels, to forecast the gas emissions/dispersions into the atmosphere. The fire emissions are assessed through the estimation of the fire behaviour based on the fuel consumption (USDA models: FOFEM5 and CONSUME3), the fire dispersions are estimated using different models as CHIMERE, SWIFT AND SCHICHEM. The resulting shapefiles will be uploaded on the EFFIS Web Service (http://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/effis/).

European Commission – Joint Research Center (EC/JRC, Ispra), Italy

December 12, 2011 – October 25, 2013

External consultant (Polymedia srl) for RS/GIS support (analyst programmer) in the Project funded by EC: “Blueprint to safeguard Europe's Waters”, c/o the Water Resources Unit (H01/IES) of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability, under the supervision of the Prof. Ad De Roo. The main job activity is the development of a software interface (using Python, PCRaster, GDAL/OGR libraries, and others) between different biophysical models (LISQUAL, EPIC, LUMP, etc.). The main purpose of the work is to develop and run a set of scripts (python modules) for a multi-objective optimization with a set of simplified biophysical models. This Multi-Criteria Decision Models (MCDM) provide a tool for identifying optimum strategies for the water management in Europe, through different environmental parameters (produced by the different biophysical models) taken into account.

AgriART Srl (ART-Group, Centro Ricerche “il Pischiello”), Italy

July 9, 2010 – July 9, 2011

Post-Doctoral Researcher c/o the AgriART Srl belonging to the Research Centre “Il Pischiello - ARTGroup”. Post-Doc Fellowship awarded by “Provincia di Siena (Italy)”. The research is been focused on the application of aerial remote sensing techniques using a multispectral camera (e.g. Tetracam G/R/IR) installed in a UAV and integration of the environmental measured data (climatic, agronomic, etc.) in a GIS application for farm advisory.

Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Environmental Applications DIIAA-CIRPIET (University of Palermo), Italy

January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2009

PhD Research on Precision Farming applied on vineyard. Use of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications to improve the water management on vineyard cultivation. Comparison between two evapotranspiration measures estimated by the application of a water balance model (VSIM) and an energy balance model (SEBAL). An IDL routine has been implemented to help in processing all the data (satellite images and climatic data) through an iterative procedure.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Ames Research Park (NASA/NRP), California State University of Monterey Bay (CSUMB), Moffet Field (California, USA)

May 1 to November 14, 2008

Visiting Student in the project VSIM (Vineyard Soil Irrigation Model) at the Ecological Forecasting Laboratory of NASA Ames Research Park lead by Dr. Rama Nemani, as part of PhD research. The activities were based on the processing of Landsat 5 and 7 images and airborne acquisitions (ENVI) to identify the plant water stress in order to study the water needs in wine crops in Napa Valley (California). Ground measurement activities of plant phenology, field LAI estimation and stem water potential measuring using the pressure chamber were integrated with the satellite images for the comparison between energy balance (SEBAL) and water mass balance (VSIM) models for actual evapotranspiration assessment. The final ET maps were integrated into a GIS application (ArcGIS, QGIS).

Department of Geology and Geodesy (University of Palermo), Italy

March 27 to September 27, 2002

External consultant for the development and implementation of a bionomic and ecologic database using a GIS (ArcView, Idrisi) on the area of Egadi Islands, within the research project entitled “Geologic, bionomic and ecologic studies of the Southern Italy protected areas (GEBEC SUD)”; financed by MIUR. A Side Scan Sonar photomosaic was created to map the seafloor integrated with a DTM produced by a multibean sonar.

Department of Animal Biology, (University of Palermo), Italy

July 2001 to March 2002

Participation, as research assistant, to laboratory and field activities of the research group lead by Prof. Renato Chemello, coordinator of the Ecology e Nature Conservation Laboratory of the Department of Ecology, (University of Palermo). The focus of the activity was an in-depth study on the use of Remote Sensing techniques and GIS to describe the distribution of marine benthonic communities, in the framework of feasibility studies for protected areas.

National Interuniversity Society for Marine Science (CoNISMa) and Italian Environmental Lega, Italy

December 2000

Development, as external consultant, of a marine bionomic chart of the Coastal Zone placed inside the Natural Reserve of "Lampedusa Isle" (Agrigento, Italy), using software for digital cartography such as ArcView (ver. 3.2) and Surfer. A Side Scan Sonar photomosaic was used to map the extension of the different patches of seagrass (in particular the Posidonia oceanica).

CoNISMa, CREA Soc. Coop. a.r.l., Italy

September 1998

Participation, as an undergraduate student for the Laurea thesis, to the research program for the establishing of the "Natural Reserve of Capo Gallo" (Palermo, Italy). Development of 14 thematic maps describing different aspects characterizing the investigated area, using GIS specific software (Idrisi and ArcView).

Work Experience on Oceanographic Vessel

Department of Geology and Geodesy (University of Palermo), Oceanographic Vessel R/V Tethis

July 23 to 30, 2002

Participation to the oceanographic cruise concerning a geomorphologic study on the basin placed in the north-west side of Sicilian Sea, by sampling of sediment using grabs and dredgers. This campaign has been included in the GebecSud Project.

Department of Geology and Geodesy (University of Palermo), Oceanographic Vessel R/V Tethis

October 26 to 31, 2001

Participation to the oceanographic cruise concerning a bathymetric study on the basin placed in the west side of Sicily (Archipelago of the Egadi Islands, San Vito Lo Capo, Gulf of Castellammare and Ustica Island), using the Multibeam Sonar. This campaign has been included in the GebecSud Project.

Institute of Marine Geology of CNR in Bologna, Oceanographic Vessel R/V Urania

December 27 1996 to January 09, 1997

Participation to the second Leg of the oceanographic cruise Canale di Sicilia (CS96). In this campaign aimed at the study the biogenic sedimentation in the deeper environment, employing sediment sampling system like grabs or dredgers and remote operated vehicles (ROV).

Geolab, geophysics & oceanographic research society

August 1996

Participation to the surveying campaign with the Side Scan Sonar carried out in the Gulf of Carini (Palermo, Italy) inside the project POP Sicilia. This research was aimed at a bio-morphologic survey of the seafloor to build the bionomic chart of the benthonic communities.

Department of Geology and Geodesy (University of Palermo), Oceanographic Vessel R/V Urania

January 02 to 08, 1996

Participation to the oceanographic cruise TM95, aimed at a geomorphologic and geophysics study of the basin in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Several tools for acoustic inquiry were used such as Side Scan Sonar, the Sub-Bottom and the Sparker. It also included several sampling of sediment using grabs and dredgers.

Other Work Experience on Environmental Application

Solea, scientific-cultural association (Pa), Italy

December 02 to January 02, 1997

Participation to the program "Socio-economic inquiry on fishing and tourist navigation of Palermo's Coast", contracted by the City Council of Palermo, Italy.

Department of Animal Biology, (University of Palermo), Italy

Summer 1995 to 1997

Participation, as an undergraduate student, to the campaign of hand sampling of leafs fascicles on the marine phanerogame Posidonia oceanica and of mollusk population living inside it, using little net. This research was carried within the project POP Sicilia and located in the Gulf of Carini (Palermo, Italy).

Training Activity

European Commission – Joint Research Center (EC/JRC, Ispra), Italy

November 04, 2013 – October 31, 2016.

Attendance to the course of: Introduction to Google Earth Engine. April 11, 2016.

Attendance to the course of: Getting Started with IDL Programming. April 12-14, 2016.

Attendance to the course of: Introduction to Oracle Spatial Using Sqlplus. May 27-28, 2015.

Attendance to the course of: Introduction to R. January 11-14, 2015.

Attendance to the course of: Advanced Grass GIS 7. May 26-28, 2014.

Attendance to the course of: Introduction to Grass GIS 7. April 07-08, 2014.

Attendance to the course of: Guidos: Shape and Connectivity Analysis of Raster Image Objects. May 07, 2014.

Attendance to the course of: Introduction to Linux for Windows Users. April 17, 2014.

Attendance to the course of: Extending ENVI with IDL. December 02-04, 2013.

Italian Agro-meteorological Society  (AIAM) - Central Office of Agricultural Ecology (UCEA).

December 4 to 7, 2007.

Attendance to the course of: meteorological data analysis and programming elements. Use of programming languages Visual Basic and R in the management of meteorological data for environment and agricultural applications. It was held at the Ufficio Centrale di Ecologia Agraria (UCEA) headquartered in Rome.

Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Environmental Applications (University of Palermo), Italy

February 26 to June 08, 2007

Attendance to the course of Remote Sensing for water resource management. Use of the software for remote sensing image processing ENVI (Research System, Inc. vers. 4.2) and the programming language IDL.

February 27 to May 24, 2007

Attendance to the course of Land Information System for soil protection. Use of the software GIS ArcGIS (ESRI, Inc. vers. 9.1).

Industrial Liaison Office (ILO - University of Palermo).

March 27 to September 21, 2006.

Attendance to the high specializing course: “Expert in innovation and technological development” (600 hours), within the ILO (Industrial Liaison Office) project, at the University of Palermo.

Steril S.p.A

July 30, 2003

Attendance to the course of Purification rudiments of water for dialysis, carried out at the Steril S.p.A., Lecce (Italy).

Boston Scientific - European Training Center, France

July 8 to 10, 2003

Attendance to the course of Cardiology Induction Products, carried out at the European Training Centre of Boston Scientific, Paris (La Garenne Colombes, France).

Interdepartmental Research Center for the Interaction of Technology and Environment (CIRITA - University of Palermo) and Natural Marine Reserve of Ustica, Italy

June 24 to July 01, 2000

IV Course of Marine Bentonology, Ecological analysis methods of the benthonic coastal systems, carried out c/o the Natural Marine Reserve of Ustica (Pa).

European Space Agency (ESA/Esrin) and National Research Program in Antarctica (PNRA), Italy

June 15 to 26, 1998

Attendance to the course of Remote Sensing and Marine Ecology: from the problem to the application, carried out at the ESA/ESRIN, Frascati (Roma).

C.I.R.I.T.A. University of Palermo and Natural Marine Reserve of Ustica, Italy

September 07 to 13, 1997

Attendance to the I Course of Marine Bentonology, methods of research on the Zoo-benthos of the hard substratum, carried out at the Natural Marine Reserve of Ustica (Pa).

Scuba Diving School "Anthias Club" (Pa), Italy

August 14, 1994

Attendance to the course of sports scuba-dive (PADI) with the ARA system. Level: Open Water Diver.

Teaching Activity

Ce.S.Med. soc. Coop., Mussomeli, Italy

September 22 to 03 December, 2005

Guest lecturer for the Course of “Technologies and tools for data acquisition and processing” (Environmental Cartography, Land Information System, Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System), 72 class hours. Module is offered within the Course Degree in "Expert on environment monitoring" offered by Ce.S.Med c/o IPSSA in Mussomeli (Cl).

Bachelor of Science in Natural Science and in Biology (University of Palermo), Italy

March 31 to 01 April, 2003

Guest lecturer for the Course of "Conservazione della Natura e delle sue Risorse" on Bionomic Cartography, Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System applied to the marine environment.

December 10 to 11, 2001

Guest lecturer for the Course of "Conservazione della Natura e delle sue Risorse" on Bionomic Cartography, Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System applied to the marine environment.

November 22 to 24, 2000

Guest lecturer for the Course of "Conservazione della Natura e delle sue Risorse" treating the Bionomic Cartography, the Remote Sensing and the Geographical Information System applied to the marine environment.

November 26, 1999

Guest lecturer for the Course of "Ecologia" treating the Bionomic Cartography, the Remote Sensing and the Geographical Information System applied to the marine environment.

November 23 to 24, 1999

Guest lecturer for the Course of "Conservazione della Natura e delle sue Risorse" treating the Bionomic Cartography, the Remote Sensing and the Geographical Information System applied to the marine environment.

November 25 to 26, 1998

Guest lecturer for the Course of "Conservazione della Natura e delle sue Risorse" treating the Bionomic Cartography, the Remote Sensing and the Geographical Information System applied to the marine environment.

Mandralisca Museum of Cefalù, Italy

April 21, 1997

Guest lecturer for Mandralisca Museum of Cefalù (Pa), having the title "Mollusk: habitat and ecology". This was placed inside a cycle of three meeting treating different aspect between malacology and sea.

Dissertations and Publications

Hirt M., Barnes A., Gentile A., Pollock L.J., Rosenbaum B, Thuiller W., Tucker M., Brose U. (Submitted) Human pressure increases worldwide extinction risk of animals by reducing usable space. Nature Communication.

van Klink, R., et al. (accepted) InsectChange – a global database of temporal changes in insect and arachnid assemblages. Ecology.

Freiberg M., M. Winter, A. Gentile, A. Zizka, A. N. Muellner-Riehl, A. Weigelt, C. Wirth (2020): LCVP, The Leipzig catalogue of vascular plants, a new taxonomic reference list for all known vascular plants. Scientific Data 7(416).

van Klink, R., Bowler, D. E., Gongalsky, K. B., Swengel, A. B., Gentile, A., Chase, J. M. (2020): Meta-analysis reveals declines in terrestrial but increases in freshwater insect abundances. Science 368(6489). DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9931.

N. Chiaraviglio, T. Artes, R. Boca, J. Lopez, A. Gentile, J. San-Miguel-Ayanz, A. Cortez, T. Margalef (2016). Automatic fire perimeter determination using MODIS hotspots information. IEEE 12th International Conference on e-Science. DOI: 10.1109/eScience.2016.7870928. 23-27 October 2016.

A. Udias, A. Gentile, P. Burek, Ad De Roo, F. Bouraoui , I.  Vandecasteele , C.  Lavalle , G.  Bidoglio. (2016). Multi-criteria framework to assess large scale water resources policy measures. In Water 8 (370); doi:10.3390/w8090370 (MDPI Open Access Journal).

Z. Zajac, M. Zambrano-Bigiarini, P. Salamon, P. Burek, A. Gentile, A. Bianchi. Calibration of the LISFLOOD hydrological model for Europe. Calibration Round 2013. Report of European Commission – Joint Research Centre.

Ad de Roo, P. Burek, A. Gentile, A. Udias and F. Bouraoui. Optimizing the available scarce water resources at European scale in a modeling environment: results and challenges. Vol. 15, EGU 2013-4819, 2013

Ad de Roo, P. Burek, A. Gentile, A. Udias, F. Bouraoui, A. Aloe, A. Bianchi, A. La Notte, O. Kuik, J. E.Tenreiro, I. Vandecasteele, S. Mubareka, C. Baranzelli, M. Van Der Perk, C. Lavalle, G. Bidoglio (2012). “A multi-criteria optimisation of scenarios for the protection of water resources in Europe”. Support to the EU Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters. Report of European Commission – Joint Research Centre, doi: 10.2788/55540.

Gentile, A., Pierce, L., Ciraolo, G., Zhang, G., La Loggia, G., Nemani, R., (2009). "Comparison between energy balance and mass balance models for actual evapotranspiration assessment" in Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XI, edited by Christopher M. U. Neale, Antonino Maltese, Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 7472 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA 2009) 747212.

Gentile A., Zhang G., Pierce L., Ciraolo G. and La Loggia G. (2009). Analysis of the energetic flows through the sebal application to the assessment of the actual evapotranspiration in a Napa Valley vineyard California (USA). Proceeding of AIAM Conference, June 15-17 Sassari (Italy).

Gentile A. & La Loggia G., (2007) – Rapporto sullo stato dell’Arte delle attività di ricerca e individuazione dei Centri di riferimento lungo l’asse Sicilia – Malta. In: Mediterranean Trading and Innovation Centre METIC. Un'esperienza nel Mediterraneo. (vol. 1, pp. 128-149). ISBN: 978-88-903476-0-3. Progetto Metic Interreg III A Italia - Malta. Programma finanziato dalla Comunità Europea.

Gentile A. & Riggio S., (2003) – La rappresentazione cartografica in ambiente GIS delle biocenosi bentoniche marine nell’area di Capo Gallo (Sicilia nord-occidentale). Biologia Marina Mediterranea, 10 (2): 706 - 710. ISBN/ISSN: 1123-4245. Genova: Erredi Grafiche Editoriali S.n.c. (Italy).

Gentile A. & Riggio S., (2003) – Sviluppo di una banca-dati G.I.S. come strumento di gestione in un piano di monitoraggio e controllo della fascia costiera. Biologia Marina Mediterranea, 10 (2): 701 - 705. ISBN/ISSN: 1123-4245. Genova: Erredi Grafiche Editoriali S.n.c. (Italy).

Gentile A., (2001) – Metodologie per la valutazione ecologica della R.N.M. di Capo Gallo - Isola delle Femmine: sviluppo di una applicazione GIS. Defends of the Laurea's thesis, Corso di Laurea in Scienze Biologiche indirizzo Biologico/Ecologico, University of Palermo. June 15, 2001: 169 pp.

Milazzo M., Chemello R., Gentile A., Nasta E. & Riggio S., (2000) – La scelta del sito nell'istituzione di aree marine protette e l'importanza della cartografia tematica. Atti del 10° Congresso Nazionale della SitE, Pisa. September 14 to 16 2000: 63-64.

Military Service Position

Carried out at the military base "E. Sommaruga" (Catania), c/o the 62° RGT. Carri "Sicilia" (Brg. AOSTA) of the Italian Army, having the assignment as military field nurse. December 15, 1998 to October 12, 1999.

During this period, he attended the specialization school in military field nurse (A.Sa.) at the Military Hospital "M. Ferrara" in Palermo, March 03 to April 08 1999.