Valeria La Saponara (born 1970)[1] is an Italian-American mechanical and aerospace engineer whose research studies mycelium-based materials[2] and the durability of biodegradable fiber-reinforced composite materials, particularly for applications in aerospace and in wind energy.[3] She is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Davis.[4]
Education and career
editLa Saponara graduated in 1994 from the University of Naples Federico II with a degree in aerospace engineering. After continued work at the MARS Center, an aerospace contractor in Naples, she completed a Ph.D. in aerospace 2001 at Georgia Tech.[5]
After a year of postdoctoral work as an instructor at Georgia Tech, she became an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah. She moved to her present position at the University of California, Davis in 2005.[5]
Recognition
editLa Saponara was elected as an ASME Fellow in 2018.[6]
References
edit- ^ Birth year from Library of Congress catalog entry, retrieved 2023-09-02
- ^ Fergesen, Jennifer (May 9, 2022), "The Might of Mycelium: How fungi is changing food, agriculture and the environment in the Capital Region", Comstock's magazine, retrieved 2023-09-02
- ^ Knox, Sharon Campbell (June 1, 2023), "Making wind power even greener", University of California News, retrieved 2023-09-02
- ^ "Valeria La Saponara", Directory, UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, January 14, 2019, retrieved 2023-09-02
- ^ a b Valeria La Saponara, CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, retrieved 2023-09-02
- ^ All Fellows (PDF), American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2022, retrieved 2023-09-02