About
I'm a PostDoc at TU Wien at the Institute of Logic and Computation. From April, I will join the WWTF Project LAGER (Learning Abstractions for Generalized Reasoning in AI). I completed my PhD studies at TU Wien in January 2026. During my PhD, under the supervision of Mantas Simkus and co-supervision of Magdalena Ortiz, I worked on non-monotonic extensions of Description Logics based on predicate minimization and related to circumscription.
Contacts
- Phone: +4366565363633
- City: Vienna, Austria
- Address: Favoritenstrasse 9-11, 1040
- Email: federica.stefano[at]tuwien.ac.at
Short Curriculum
“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Education
PhD in Computer Science
Oct 2020 - Jan 2026
TU Wien, Vienna, Austria.
Supervised by Mantas Simkus, co-supervised by Madgalena Ortiz, thesis title: Non-monotonic Description Logics Based on Predicate Minimization.
MSc in Mathematics
Oct 2016 - Feb 2019
University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy.
Supervised by Luca Spada, thesis title: A strong complete semantics for Lukasiewicz Propositional Logic.
BSc in Mathematics
Oct 2013 - Dec 2016
University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy.
Supervised by Cristina Coppola, thesis title: Point-free geometry: metric approaches and logic dualities.
Professional Experience
Project Assistant
2020 - Present
TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
Research Scholarship
Febraury 2020 - September 2020
University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy
Publications
International Conferences
Minimal Model Reasoning in Description Logics: Don’t Try This at Home!
Di Stefano F., Maniere Q., Ortiz M., and Simkus M.
KR2025 - Link
ArXiv here
Runner-up Ray Reiter Best Paper Award!
Expressive Description Logics with Rich Yet Affordable Numeric Constraints
Di Stefano F., Lukumbuzya S., Ortiz M., and Simkus M.
KR2025 - Link
Equilibrium Description Logics: Results on Complexity and Relations to Circumscription
Di Stefano F. and Simkus M.
KR2024 - Link
Stable Model Semantics for Description Logic Terminologies
Di Stefano F. and Simkus M.
AAAI2024 - Link
Description Logics with Pointwise Circumscription
Di Stefano F., Ortiz M. and Simkus M.
IJCAI2023 - Link
Unification in Lukasiewicz Logic with a Finite Number of Variables
Abbadini M., Di Stefano F. and Spada L.
IPMU2020 - Link
Informal Publications and Abstracts
Minimal Model Reasoning in Description Logics: Don’t Try This at Home! (Extended Abstract)
Di Stefano F., Maniere Q., Ortiz M., and Simkus M.
DL2025 - Accepted
Expressive Description Logics with Rich Yet Affordable Numeric Constraints (Extended Abstract)
Di Stefano F., Lukumbuzya S., Ortiz M., and Simkus M.
DL2025 - Accepted
Stable Model Semantics for Description Logic Terminologies (Extended Abstract)
Di Stefano F. and Simkus M.
DL2024 - Link
Description Logics with Pointwise Circumscription (Extended Abstract)
Di Stefano F., Ortiz M. and Simkus M.
Recently Published Research Track at KR2023.
Pointwise Circumscription in Description Logics: a Local Approach to Non-Monotonicity.
Di Stefano F.
Doctoral Consortium at KR2021.
Talks
Translating Equilibrium Description Logics into Circumscription
Presented at DL2024.
Stable Model Semantics for Description Logic Terminologies
Presented at AAAI2024 and DL2024.
Description Logics with Pointwise Circumscription
Presented at IJCAI2023 and KR2023.
Pointwise Circumscription in Description Logics
Presented at DL2022, co-located with NMR2022.
Pointwise Circumscription in Description Logics: a Local Approach to Non-Monotonicity.
Doctoral Consortium at KR2021, short abstract here.
Unification in Lukasiewicz Logic with a Finite Number of Variables
Presented online at IPMU2020, sadly I lost the slides.
Teaching
Teaching Assistant for Description Logics and Ontologies, cross-curricular, TU Wien,
Winter Semester 2023, in person.
Teaching Assistant for Geometry III, BSc in Mathematics, University of Salerno,
Summer Semester 2020, 20 hours, online.
Teaching Assistant for Mathematics I, BSc in Environmental Science, University of Salerno,
Winter Semester 2017, 20 hours, in person.
More
I come from a small region in southern Italy called Molise, where the background picture was taken (from my balcony). Molise is known to be the least-known region of Italy or the Italian region that does not exist, from which the moniker Molisn't. I am a Potterhead (proud member of Ravenclaw), a Marvel fan, and a collector of Lego. My guiding spirit is a Golden Retriever.