Virginio Cantoni received the laurea (cum laude) in Electronic Engineering in 1972 from University of Pavia, Italy.
He is presently Full Professor of Computer Engineering in the same university. In the period 2008-2011 he has been seconded to the Centro Linceo Beniamino Segre of the Accademia dei Lincei. From 1975 to 1983 he was researcher of the Italian National Research Council. He has been for the period 1985-1990 President of the Italian Group of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR). He has been Visiting Professor for the Spring Semester of 1987 at Rutgers University, at the Center of Computer Aids for Industrial Productivity (CAIP), New Jersey.
For the period 1989-1995 he served as Director of the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering of Pavia University.
He has been eight times Invited Professor at the Paris XI University in the period 1994 - 2011. In the period 1995-97 he has been member of the Conseil d'Orientation Scientifique International of the Pole Universitaire Europeen de Tolouse. In the period 1995-2001 he has been President of the Computer Center of Pavia University.
In the period 1995-2002 he has been the Coordinator of the Ph.D. courses on Electronic and Computer Engineering of Pavia University.
He has been the founder and the Director since 1997 of the European School of Advanced Studies in Media Science and Technology (Pavia University). Since 1997 he is the Director of the Interuniversity Center for Image Science and Technology. In the period 2000-2002 he has been the Director of the Interdepartment Center for Cognitive Science of Pavia University.
He served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of Pavia University (2002-2008). As a dean, in 2007 he received the IBM Faculty Award: a cash only award intended to recognize outstanding faculty and promote innovative, collaborative research in discipline of mutual interest.
His research activity is concerned with pattern recognition and parallel architectures for image processing and computer vision. He has been in the 80's the coordinator of an Italian National Project involving researchers of a consortium of seven Universities for the design and construction of a pyramidal system for image analysis. In the period 1993-98, he has been the coordinator of an Italian National Project on Multimedia Systems.
He is author or co-author of more than 270 Journal or Conference papers and book chapters and the editor or co-editor of 30 books and co-author of three books on 'Pyramidal Architectures for Computer Vision' (con M. Ferretti, Plenum Press, 1994), '3C Vision: Cues, Contexts and Channels' (con S. Levialdi, B. Zavidovique, Elsevier, London, 2011) e Alessandro Volta.
The 1878 Celebrations at the University of Pavia (con A. P. Morando, Silvana Editoriale, 2011). He organized a number of International Conferences and a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (as co-Director) on subjects related to image processing and computer vision. He has also acted as an Expert and a Project Reviewer for the European Communities. He is Fellow of the IAPR (International Association for Pattern Recognition) (Jerusalem, 1994, mention: For contribution to architectures for computer vision and service to IAPR) and Fellow of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) (Cleveland, 1997, mention: For contribution and leadership in the development of hierarchical architectures for computer vision systems).
He received a Certificate of Appreciation from IEEE Computer Society (Padua, 2000, mention: For contribution to the development of computer architectures for machine perception in the Computer Society).
