His research group works on algorithms and tools for pattern recognition systems, with an emphasis on applications for typeset, handwritten, and electronic documents. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, and was an NSERC postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence (CENPARMI) in Montreal before joining RIT. Dr. Zanibbi was one of the main contributors to the Freehand Formula Entry System (FFES), an influential pen-based equation editing prototype, and is the conference Co-Chair for the SPIE Document Recognition and Retrieval XIX (2012) and XX (2013) conferences.