Applied physics is the study of physics specifically as it pertains to developing and growing a wide range of practical uses in society through research and technology. Students may focus on a specific industry that uses this science, including aerospace, satellites, mobile telecommunications, lasers, microchips, fiber optics, semiconductors and information technology.

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic within the European Union, located in Southern Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia along the Alps.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.