Versace grew up in Monfalcone, Italy and came to the United States in 2001 as a Fulbright scholar. Versace holds a masters in psychology from the University of Trieste and a two PhDs. As Artificial Intelligence Professor at Boston University, he founded the Neuromorphics Lab, and in 2009-2011 the lab led a main research thrust in the DARPASyNAPSE in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard designing artificial nervous systems, based on deep learning, implemented on novel memristive-based devices. In December 2010, Versace published a cover-featured articled on the IEEE Spectrum describing the roadmap to develop a large scale brain model making use of memristor based technologies. The model designed by Versace and his colleagues, termed Modular Neural Exploring Traveling Agent was the first large-scale neural network model to implement whole-brain circuits to power a virtual and robotic agent compatibly with memristor-based hardware computations. A cover page article in IEEE Computer features the software platform and modeling implemented by the joint HP and Boston University teams, and the March 2012 edition of IEEE Pulse features his lab work on brain modeling. From 2011 to 2016, Versace and his team at Neurala then worked with NASA and successfully built deep learning models able to learn in real-time to power navigation and perception for autonomous robots for exploration of novel environments. His work has also been featured in TIME Magazines, New York Times, Nasdaq,The Boston Globe, Xconomy, IEEE Spectrum, Fortune, CNBC,The Chicago Tribune, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Associated Press, Geek Magazine, and is a TEDx speaker. In 2006, with two colleagues from Boston University, he co-founded Neurala Inc. to bring this technology to market in applications ranging from robots, to drones, and other smart devices.
Versace is also recipient of the CELEST Award for Computational Modeling of Brain and Behavior in 2009, and was awarded top cited article 2008-2010 in Brain Research.
Neural modeling, Deep Learning, and Robotics
Massimiliano Versace's pioneered research in continual learning neural networks, in particular applied to cortical models of learning and memory, and how to build intelligent machines equipped with low-power, high density neural chips that implement large-scale brain circuits of increasing complexity. His Synchronous Matching Adaptive Resonance Theory model shows spiking laminar cortical circuits self-organize and stably learn relevant information, and how these circuits be embedded in low-power, memristor based hybrid CMOS chip and used to solve challenging pattern recognition problems. His work has been featured on Fortune, Inc, Tech Crunch, IEEE Spectrum, Venture Beat, among others.
