Questions, answered.
Are you Italian or American?
Both, depending on which passport is more convenient and whether I’m talking about pizza.
How do you say your surname?
FA-va-ro
What languages do you speak?
Italian, English, and beginner French (currently negotiating with the subjunctive).
Where are you based?
Pisa, Italy. The city is small and cozy, walkable, full of students, and has weird and fun traditions.
What’s the hardest part of being a physics student?
The uncertainty. Convincing yourself that not understanding something is part of the process and not a personality flaw. I keep forgetting it.
Do you sleep?
Poorly, but enthusiastically.
Favourite particle?
The neutrino. Nearly massless, barely interacts with anything, travels across the universe completely unbothered. Goals.
If you had to be a celestial object, what would you be?
A blazar. A supermassive black hole is eating matter and screaming jets of particles at ultrarelativistic speeds directly toward you. I’m a bit dramatic.
Why does science communication matter to you?
1. Because the universe is genuinely astonishing and everyone deserves access to that astonishment, not just people who ended up in the right lecture hall.
2. I believe all researchers have a duty to share their knowledge and expertise with the community and to earn their trust.
Isn’t science communication just dumbing things down?
No. It’s a translation. The words, the images, and the tone can change. And good translation is one of the hardest things a human can do.
How do you explain gravitational waves to a ten-year-old?
I ask them to imagine the universe as a trampoline. Then I spend twenty minutes answering follow-up questions.
Do people ever ask you stupid questions?
There are no stupid questions. There are only weird questions, open questions, unsatisfying answers, and questions that make you rethink the entirety of the subject.
What is AISF for you? Why even bother volunteering?
A couple of years ago, I was very lost. I had lost momentum, connection, the feeling that what I was doing had meaning beyond the screen. I was a struggling student, and I genuinely questioned whether I belonged in physics at all.
Then I attended my first national AISF event. I found myself surrounded by people who shared the same curiosity about the world, had similar struggles, but were united by the same passion. I rediscovered my motivation, and I felt that I was part of something larger than myself.
That experience gave me a great deal, and I swore I wanted to give something back to the community as a sign of gratitude.
This is my attempt to offer others what was offered to me: a moment that re-ignites your passion, not just for physics, not just for academia, but for the people around you, wherever they come from.
What does a Lead Coordinator actually do?
Everything nobody else has claimed yet, plus the things that were claimed but quietly abandoned. Also: logistics, communications, programme design, keeping seventeen things alive simultaneously, and not crying.
I’ve learned more about leadership, communication, budgeting, and how to work with people through AISF than through any formal training.
You do graphic design or PR, too?
I have a really creative soul, and AISF has helped me develop it in a safe environment.
I like structuring visual identities, creating flyers, and small graphic elements, even if not professionally. I also have some experience in PR communications and newsletters. Perhaps this could help me in a science management career or side projects in the future.
Why theatre AND physics?
Both require you to hold an enormous amount of uncertainty and act with conviction anyway. Besides, I really wanted to not lose contact with my humanistic and creative upbringing.
Is it useful? Would you recommend it?
Unexpectedly, yes. Theatre taught me things no physics course did — how to read a room, how to adjust when something unexpected happens, how to hold attention without losing precision in exposition. I’d recommend it to anyone who communicates science, teaches, or works with people.
What would you do if you weren’t a physicist?
Conference/event organizer or science communicator/journalist or a professional overthinker.
More questions?
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