First Name: Valentina
Last Name: Zega
Date of birth: November, 5th 1988
Nationality: Italian
Sex: Female
Email: valentina.zega@polimi.it
Current position: Associate Professor – Politecnico di Milano
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EDUCATION
Nov. 2013 – Febr. 2017: PhD in Structural, Seismic and Geotechnical Engineering (cum laude)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy + STMicroelectronics
Supervisors: prof. Alberto Corigliano, prof. Claudia Comi and prof. David A. Horsley
Title: MEMS sensors for the measurement of angular velocity: mechanical and structural issues
Oct. 2010 – Apr. 2013: Master in Mathematical Engineering (110/110)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
Supervisors: prof. Alberto Corigliano, prof. Claudia Comi
Title: Torsional resonator for microsystems: modelling, experimentation, applications
Sept. 2007 – July 2010: Bachelor in Mathematical Engineering (110/110)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
Supervisor: prof. Paolo Biscari
Title: Instability of an half space under compression
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SCHOLARSHIPS
Nov. 2013 – Nov. 2016: PhD scholarship by STMicroelectronics
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AWARDS
Febr. 2018 Arnaldo Rancati award from Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere, Milano
Award for an unpublished work to the advantage of the aeronautics or technical industry in general
Nov. 2020 Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale II fascia – Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca, ItalyBandoD.D. 2175/2018Settore Concorsuale08/B2Scienza delle Costruzionivalid from13/11/2020to13/11/2029 (art. 16, comma1, Legge 240/10)
May 2023 Italian IP Women 2023 – Licensing Executives Society (LES) Italy and Politecnico di Milano
Award to Women of Italian excellence that with their fundamental role in driving innovation, creativity, business growth, sustainable
development and pursuing and protecting the IP values improve the quality of life for all of us.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeHIgu95bkc]
Sept. 2024 AIMETA junior award 2024 – Mechanics of Materials and Structures – Recognition of a significant scientific result obtained by the candidatein the field of Mechanics of Materials and Structures. The award is for individuals under 38.
Oct. 2024 2024 IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award in the area of Sensors (early career) – The award honors a person with outstanding technical contributions within the scope of the IEEESensors Council, as documented by publications and patents. It is based on the general quality and originality of contributions. Early Career awards are for individuals within 15 years of receiving the first degree.
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ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Since June 2024: Associate Professor – ICAR08 Scienza delle Costruzioni
Institution: Politecnico di Milano
Feb. 2024 – Aug. 2024: Maternity leave
Since February 2023: Deputy director of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department of Politecnico di Milano for Talent Development
Institution: Politecnico di Milano
We aim at monitoring and coordinating the actions taken to support young researchers, i.e. the university Post-Doc and Researchers
with a professional experience of maximum seven years since their PhD (according to the requirements to benefit from the ERC
Starting Grants)
Feb. 2019 – May 2024: Assistant Professor – ICAR08 Scienza delle costruzioni
Institution: Politecnico di Milano
– Numerical modelling, optimization and experimental validation of MEMS resonators
– Numerical modelling of nonlinear phenomena in MEMS
– Mechanical design and numerical modelling of metamaterials at the micro and macro scales
June 2018 – Nov. 2018: PostDoctoral Researcher
Institution: Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)
Supervisors: prof. M.G.D. Geers, prof. V.G. Kouznetsova
– Numerical modelling and experimental validation of nonlinear locally resonant metamaterials
– Design of a locally resonant metamaterial exhibiting a subharmonic bandgap
Febr. 2017 – May 2018: PostDoctoral Researcher
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy + STMicroelectronics
Supervisors: prof. A. Corigliano, prof. C. Comi, prof. A. Frangi
– Modelling and design of Frequency Modulated (FM) Gyroscopes and MEMS resonators
– Modelling and design of new metamaterials (auxetic structures and phononic crystals)
– Modelling, design and experimental tests of 3D printed and wet-metallized sensors (z-axis and threeaxial accelerometers)
Oct. 2015 – Dec. 2015: Visiting researcher at UCDavis
Institution: University of California Davis (UCDavis, CA)
Supervisor: prof. D.A. Horsley
– Mechanical design of differential frequency modulated gyroscopes
– Finite Elements analysis and mechanical modelling of multi-physics problems
Febr. 2014 – May 2014: Visiting researcher at UCDavis
Institution: University of California Davis (UCDavis, CA)
Supervisor: prof. D.A. Horsley
– Parametric amplification in MEMS disk resonant gyroscopes
– Mathematical nonlinear modelling, Finite Elements analysis and testing
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TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Since Sept. 2019: Teaching
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
– Mechanics of Materials and Structures – Bachelor in Architecture (8 CFU)
Academic years: 2022/2023 – 2023/2024 – 2024/2025
– Computational Mechanics – Master in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering (5 CFU)
Academic years: 2019/2020 – 2020/2021 – 2021/2022 – 2022/2023 – 2023/2024 – 2024/2025
– Statics of Structures – Bachelor in Architecture (4 CFU)
Academic year: 2021/2022
– Scientific and Technical Communication – Master in Civil Engineering (5 CFU)
Academic years: 2021/2022 – 2022/2023 – 2024/2025
– MEMS mechanics and design – sensors – Master in Mechanical Engineering/ Master in Engineering Physics/ Master in Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology (5 CFU)
Academic year: 2024/2025
Since Oct. 2014: Teaching assistant
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
– Structural Mechanics – Bachelor in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering (prof. Comi)
Academic year: 2017/2018 – 2018/2019
– Structural Mechanics – Mathematical Engineering (prof. Frangi)
Academic year: 2017/2018 – 2018/2019 – 2019/2020 – 2020/2021
– Structural Mechanics – Mathematical Engineering (prof. Corigliano)
Academic years: 2014/2015 – 2015/2016 – 2016/2017
– Structural Mechanics – Bachelor in Building Engineering (prof. Frangi)
Academic years: 2016/2017
– Statics of Structures – Bachelor in Building Engineering (prof. Frangi)
Academic years: 2014/2015 – 2017/2018
– Microelectromechanical Systems – Master in Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology (prof. Corigliano)
Academic years: 2014/2015 – 2015/2016 – 2017/2018 – 2018/2019
– Computational Mechanics and Inelastic Structural Analysis – Master in Civil Engineering (prof. Corigliano)
Academic years: 2018/2019
– Scientific and Technical Communication – Master in Civil Engineering (prof. Comi)
Academic years: 2018/2019
Since Jan. 2015: Co-Supervisor of Master Thesis students
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
– Master thesis of Nystha Baishya: ‘Auxetic structures for microsystems: study, modelling and 3D printing’ (December 2015) – Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Alessandro Garatti and Milena Doti: ‘Dynamic nonlinear behavior of microstructures: modelling and experimental validation’ (July 2016) – Civil Engineering
– Master thesis of Andrea Castiglioni: ‘Design, fabrication and modelling of three-dimensional microlattice structures’ (April 2017) – Civil Engineering
– Master thesis of Jacopo Carraro: ‘Multi-physics modelling and design of a new piezoelectric microgyroscope’ (April 2017) – Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Alessandro Stoppato: ‘Design, fabrication and analysis of a 3D-printed triaxial accelerometer’ (April 2018) – Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Andrea Guercilena: ‘Numerical modelling of micro- resonators’ (April 2018) – Civil Engineering
– Master thesis of Ruixue Zhao: ‘3D Printed metamaterials for vibration isolation’ (April 2019) – Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Luca Martinelli: ‘3D-Printed titanium Accelerometers’ (December 2020) – double degree Material Engineering and Nanotechnology and Mechanical Engineering
– Master thesis of Marco Antonacci: ‘Phononic crystal based lenses for focusing and energy harvesting’ (December 2020) – Material Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Stefano Biemmi: ‘Design and numerical modelling of vibration insulators in MEMS‘ (December 2022) – Civil Engineering
– Master thesis of Chiara Gilardoni: ‘Reliability assessment of MEMS structures fabricated through the novel ThELMA-Double process’ (December 2022) – Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Giulia Mecca: ‘Inkjet printing of multi-material piezoelectric sensor for large strain applications’ (December 2023)–Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Cristina Colombo: ‘Numerical simulation of dissipation in MEMS resonators and identification of material parameters’ (April 2024)–Civil Engineering
Since March 2022: Supervisor of Master Thesis students
Institution: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
– Master thesis of Chiara Galimberti: ‘Design and Multi-physics simulation of innovative MEMS accelerometers’ (December 2022) – Mathematical Engineering
– Master thesis of Yassine Banani: ‘Design and Multi-physics simulation of innovative MEMS actuators’ (December 2022) – Civil Engineering
– Master thesis of Negin Mohtasham: ‘Design and Multi-physics simulation of innovative MEMS gyroscopes‘ (April 2024) – Material Engineering and Nanotechnology
– Master thesis of Lichen Weng: ‘Design and fabrication of a MEMS ring resonator‘ (April 2024) – Material Engineering and Nanotechnology
Since Oct. 2016: Co-Supervisor of PhD students
– Jing Zhang: visiting PhD student (2016/2017)
Institution: Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
Topic: MEMS resonant accelerometers: nonlinear dynamics under varying temperature conditions
– Zhichao Yao: visiting PhD student (2018/2020)
Institution: Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
Topic: Phononic crystals in MEMS devices for vibration insulation
– Ali Hosseinkhani: visiting (online for Covid pandemia) PhD student (2021)
Institution: Iran University of Science and Technology, School of Railway Engineering, Iran
Topic: numerical modelling and optimization of metamaterials
– Chiara Gazzola: (2019/2022)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano
Topic: Design and Simulation of MEMS Loudspeakers
– Giulia Mecca: (2023/2026)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano
Topic: Development of biodegradable sensors and actuators via sustainable additive manufacturing
Since Nov. 2021: Supervisor of PhD students
– Marco Antonacci (2021/2024)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano
Topic: Metamaterials as underwater acoustic barriers (PON – Green Research Field)
– Davide Pavesi (2022/2025)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano (Joint Research Platform STEAM–PoliMi + STMicroelectronics)
Topic: Design and Multi-physics simulation of innovative high-performance MEMS gyroscopes
– Yassine Banani (2023/2026)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano (Joint Research Platform STEAM–PoliMi + STMicroelectronics)
Topic: Design and Multi-physics simulation of innovative MEMS devices for new fabrication processes
– Candidateto be selected (2024/2027)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano (Marie Curie Doctoral Network-METRAMAT)
Topic: Metamaterials with switchable properties for integration in MEMS testing equipment and packaging
– Candidate to be selected (2024/2027)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano (Marie Curie Doctoral Network-METRAMAT)
Topic: Nonlinear metamaterials for 3D meta-MEMS sensors/actuators
Since Febr. 2022: Supervisor of Post-Doc students
– Alessandro Annessi (2022/2023)
Institution: Politecnico di Milano
Supervisors: prof. Claudia Comi, Dr. Valentina Zega
Topic: Metamateriali per il controllo di onde elasto-acustichein MEMS: progettazione e ottimizzazionedi dispositivi per il controllo di propagazione di onde elastiche
Since Oct. 2014: Tutor
Camplus College Città Studi and Turro, Milan, Italy
– Tutoring service for the students of the Camplus College
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INDUSTRIAL EXPERIENCE
March 2017 – Apr. 2017: Scientific consulting
Find your doctor, Consorzio per il trasferimento tecnologico C2T, Milan, Italy
– Scientific consulting for a company
June 2013 – Oct. 2013: Internship at STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics, Cornaredo, Italy
– Mechanical design of a biaxial Amplitude Modulated gyroscope for consumer applications
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LANGUAGES
Mother tongue: Italian
Other languages: English
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SKILLS
Job related skills
– finite elements simulations for mechanical/multi-physics problems, both in statics and dynamics
– mathematical-physical modelling, both in linear and nonlinear regimes
– topology optimization for the design of metamaterials (e.g. auxetic structures)
– genetic algorithms (i.e. CMA-ES) for the shape optimization and mechanical design of MEMS (e.g. MEMS resonators) and metamaterials
– design, simulation and experimental testing of MEMS accelerometers, gyroscopes and resonators
– design, simulation and experimental testing of linear and nonlinear metamaterials
Technical skills
– Matlab, Mathematica, ANSYS, COMSOLMultiphysics, Illustrator, Word, PowerPoint, Excel
– CAD software: Solidworks, Klayout, Cadence
– Programming languages: C++, Fortran, CUDA, OpenMP, MPI
– Operating systems: Windows and Linux
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RESEARCH PROJECTS
– Feb. 2024 – now: scientist in charge for the Politecnico di Milano unit and WP3 leader of the project METRAMAT ‘Enabling the integration of multi-functional reliable metamaterials in real-life industrial applications for enhancing structural and vibrational behavior‘ funded under the HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01-01 — MSCA Doctoral Networks 2022 program (2 690 215.19 euro).
Dec. 2023 – Feb. 2025: scientific consultant for the Proof of Concept (PoC) project ‘MetaBlock’ funded through D.R.748 of 18/07/2023 (principal investigator: prof. Milena Martarelli, UniVPM, Italy)
– Jan. 2022 – now: scientific and management committee member (with Dr. Raffaella Suriano and Dr. RobertoBernasconi) of the MEMS&3D Lab of Politecnico di Milano. The MEMS&3D lab represents a first example of the use of 3D manufacturing for the fabrication and customization of a new generation of sensors and actuators.
– Jan. 2021 – now: scientific coordinator of the research line P3: ‘Innovative MEMS design for new fabrication processes “New-Thelma” within the Joint Research Center Politecnico di Milano–STMicroelectronics JRC-STEAM, a program with approximately 50M euro funding to various projects developed within Politecnico.
– Oct. 2022 – Dec. 2023: scientific coordinator (with prof. Claudia Comi) of the research project ‘MEMS resonators and capacitive sensors’ between Politecnico di Milano and the Beijing Institute of Aerospace Control Device-BIACD (100k euro)
– Jan. 2018 – Dec. 2020: participation to the activities of the Joint Research Center Politecnico di Milano–STMicroelectronics JRC-MEMS, a program with approximately 4M euro funding to various projects developed within Politecnico.
– June 2018 – Nov. 2018: participation to the project4TU.High-Tech Materials Research Programme NewHorizons in designer materials (Coordinator: prof.V.Koutznetsova) and to the program (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. [339392] (Coordinator: prof. M. Geers).
– Jan. 2017 – Sept. 2017: participation to the national project PRIN 2015-2018 (PRIN15 n. 2015LYYXA8) entitled ‘Multi-scale mechanical models for the design and optimization of microstructured smart materials and metamaterials’ (Scientific Manager: prof. Alberto Corigliano).
– Jan. 2014 – June 2014: participation to the European project lab4MEMS grant no. 325622-2, Call ENIAC-2012-2. (Scientific Manager of the local unit: prof. Alberto Corigliano).
– May 2020 – Dec. 2022: partecipation to the European project ECSEL JOINT UNDERTAKING, in the international program H2020-ECSEL, G.A. nr. 826452, Arrowhead Tools project in the Research Unit of Politecnico di Milano. (Scientific coordinator: prof. Alberto Corigliano).
– Jan. 2019 – Dec. 2020: participation to the research project ‘Studio e modellazione di micro sistemi elettro meccanici (MEMS)’ – Politecnico di Milano/STMicroelectronics. (Coordinators: prof. A. Corigliano, prof. A. Frangi).
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CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION
– Technical Program Committee Member and Group 4 ‘Sensors and Transducers’ vice-chair for the IEEE EFTF-IFCS 2025, Querétaro, Mexico, 12-16 May 2025
– Organizing Committee Member (treasurer) for the IEEE INERTIAL 2024, Hiroshima, Japan, 25-28 March 2024
– Mini-symposium ‘Nonlinear Dynamics and Vibrations of MEMS and NEMS’ co-organizer for the ASME-MSNDC 2023, Boston, USA,19-23 August 2023
– Technical Program Committee Member for theIEEE EFTF-IFCS 2023, Toyama, Japan, 16-19 May 2023
– Chair of the EUROMECH colloquium n° 616 – ‘Unification of microsystems and metamaterials for new generation engineering solutions’, Milan, 10-12 October 2022
– Technical Program Committee Member for the IEEE EFTF-IFCS 2022, Paris, France, 24-28 April 2022
– Technical Program Committe Member for the IEEE EFTF-IFCS 2021, online conference, 11-17 July 2021
– Technical Program Committee Member for the IEEE MEMS2021, online conference, 25-29 January 2021
– Technical Program Committee Member for the IEEE MEMS2020, Vancouver, Canada, 18-22 January 2020
– Local Organizing Committee member of ICTAM2020+1 conference, Milan, 23-28 August 2020
– Technical Reviewer for IEEE SENSORS 2020 virtual conference, 25-28 October 2020
– Technical Reviewer for IEEE SENSORS 2019 conference, Montreal, Canada, 27-30 October 2019
– Technical Reviewer for IEEE INERTIAL2018 conference, Lake Como, Italy, 26-29 March 2018
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COURSES AND SUMMER SCHOOL ORGANIZATION
– Director of the Summer School ‘MEMS BEFORE AND AFTER 2025: FROM APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS AND THEORETICAL ASPECTS TO PRACTICAL DESIGN APPROACH’ May 29th – June 1st 2023, Villa Grumello, Como, Italy (https://mems.lakecomoschool.org/).
The school is supported by the Lake ComoSchool of AdvancedStudies.
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INVITED SEMINARS
– ‘A new out-of-plane resonant accelerometer’ (December 2015) – TDK- Invensense, San Jose, CA
– ‘MEMS sensors for the measurements of angular velocity: mechanical and structural issues’ (May 2017) – University of Trento, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (prof. Pugno)
– ‘Frequency-modulated gyroscopes’ (July 2017) – STMicroelectronics, Cornaredo, Italy
– ‘MEMS: microsensori al servizio dell’uomo’ (September 2019) – MeetMeTonight, Notte dei ricercatori, Milano, Italy
– ‘Metamaterials: from a theoretical study to applications in MEMS’ (May 2021) – Università degli studi di Cagliari, Department of mechanical, chemical and materials engineering (prof. Brun)
– ‘Nonlinear Dynamics in MEMS: from simulation to experiments’(September 7, 2021) – Eurosensors 2021 Virtual Meeting
– ‘Nonlinear dynamics in MEMS: a model order reduction technique based on the implicit static condensation’ (October 20, 2021) – Advanced computing and Big Data Seminar, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Politecnico di Milano
-‘A mechanical perspective on MEMS gyroscopes: from new working principles to simulation challenges’ (April 24, 2022)– Invited tutorial Speaker at the IEEE EFTF-IFCS 2022 conference, Paris, France
– ‘3D-printing and wet-metallization for sensors: a Coriolis mass flowmeter operating in the mode-split conditions‘ (June 28, 2022) – Invited speaker at the CIMTEC 2022 conference, Perugia, Italy
– MicroElectroMechanical Systems: a mechanical perspective’ (September 13, 2024) – Invited lecture at the LIMNI School ‘NanoFabMat 2024: Exploring Novel Materials and Advanced Fabrication Techniques for Micro-and Nanosystems’ KU Leuven, Belgium.
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JOURNAL REVIEWS
– Member of the Reviewer Board of MDPI Sensors
– Scientific Reports, Nature Journal
– Microsystems & Nanoengineering (Springer Nature Limited and Chinese Academy of Science)
– Measurement Science and Technology Journal (IOPScience)
– Sensors & Actuators: A Physics
– Journal of Microelectromechanics and Microengineering
– Advanced Modelling and Simulation in Engineering Science
– Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems
– MDPI Sensors
– IEEE Sensors Letters
– KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
– Microsystem technologies (Springer)
– Micromachines (MDPI)
– European Journal of Mechanics/ A Solids
– KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
– Micromachines (MDPI)
– Applied Physics Letters
– Transaction on electronic devices
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JOURNAL EDITOR
– Editor of the SpecialIssue ‘Nonlinear Dynamics of Micro-and Nanosystems’ of Applied Sciences (ISSN2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section “Nanotechnology and Applied Nanosciences”.
Co-editors: Dr. Piepaolo Belardinelli and Martial Defoort
– Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (JMEMS)
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PROJECT REVIEWS
– Israeli Pazy Foundation. Established by the IsraeliUniversity Planning and Budgeting Committee (UPBC)and the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC). The foundation’s goal is to promote and supportscientific research of high quality, carried out in collaboration between researchers at the universities and atR&D centers recognized to be part of the national science and technology infrastructure (and which carryout R&D for non-commercial purposes)