Position Title
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Position Title
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Bio
Valeria La Saponara was born in Italy, where she earned her B.Sc. summa cum laude in Aerospace Engineering. She worked for two years at the Microgravity Advanced Research and Support Center, a subcontractor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. She came to US for graduate school, earning her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, and eventually joining the UC Davis community. Her research was focused on conventional fiber-reinforced composite materials, until a personal project on safer children bike helmets made her pivot to composites made with fungal mycelium -a lot more interesting, sustainable, innovative, and fun.