Nicola Manini is an Associate Professor at the Physics Department of the University of Milan, Italy, 
where he teaches Structure of Matter and Solid-State Physics. In 1995, he received his PhD in Condensed Matter Theory from SISSA, Trieste. He has worked at Yale University, USA, and at the ESRF in Grenoble, France. He fosters regular research collaborations with SISSA and other Italian and international groups, and his research covers various topics in the theory and simulation of matter, including atomic-scale friction and dissipation; the dynamics of colloids; electronic and vibrational properties of metals, semiconductors, molecular and nanostructured materials; ultracold atomic gases; fullerene C60; geometric phases; and the Jahn-Teller effect.