Pasquale Ardimento - Research Activity

Curriculum - Research - Publications - Teaching - Theses - Contacts

Research Overview

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Bari Aldo Moro (disciplinary-scientific sector ING-INF/05 - Information Processing Systems). My research integrates computational intelligence, software modeling, and educational technologies, with the goal of enhancing the learning and development experience of software practitioners — especially novices — through intelligent tools and analytics.

Main Research Areas

🧩 AI-Enhanced Software Modeling and Education

To support novice modelers, I designed and implemented UML Miner, a Visual Paradigm plug-in that logs user interactions as event logs, enabling conformance checking and feedback. The tool compares learner modeling behaviors against expert reference models, providing personalized guidance to improve learning outcomes.

⚙️ Process Mining for Software Engineering

Analyzing modeling behavior and student dynamics in SE courses.
Understanding decision-making strategies in modeling tasks.
Detecting misconceptions and behavioral patterns through process mining techniques.

🔧 Code Analysis and Predictive Maintenance

Investigating developer coding behavior and software design practices.
Predicting bug-fixing time using large language models (e.g., BERT, DistilBERT, ALBERT).
Assessing object-oriented program design to support quality assurance and refactoring.

⚠️ Just-in-Time Software Defect Prediction

I develop deep learning-based models, including Temporal Convolutional Networks, to identify defect-prone components just before code changes are made, supporting proactive maintenance.

Academic Community Engagement

I serve as:

Program Committee, Session Chair and Workshop Organizer in international conferences such as IJCNN, PROFES, and HELMeTO.
Reviewer for top-tier journals including IEEE Access, Applied Soft Computing, and Journal of Systems and Software.
Participant in regional, national and international research projects applying AI and process mining to education and industry.