Manuel Luciano is a Software Engineer and Systems Administrator at the University of Florida, specializing in applied AI, backend development, and full-stack engineering. His work includes building AI applications, research software, and the infrastructure needed to support them.
He manages computing resources for the iDigBio project, an open biodiversity data repository for researchers, students, educators, government agencies, and the general public to search and access tens of millions of specimen-based records and media files (including details on where, when, and by whom a specimen was collected). In addition, he is a founding developer of iChatBio, an AI-powered platform that enables biodiversity researchers to explore scientific data and resources using natural language.
At the University of Florida, Manuel develops and maintains web applications, APIs, and research computing infrastructure. His experience spans Linux administration, networking and containerization, software development, and agentic systems. His current interests focus on AI agents, their integration with traditional software systems, and improving their reliability in practical applications.
Related Publications
- iChatBio: an Extensible Agentic System for Scientific Exploration and Integration of Open Biodiversity Data (2026) — DOI forthcoming.
- AI-Assisted Exploration, Curation, and Extension of Biodiversity Data Using iChatBio (2025) — https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.9.181968
- Integrating Large Language Models and the iDigBio Portal for Conversational Data Exploration and Retrieval (2024) — https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.8.142696