Raffaele Ardito, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano

Raffaele Ardito is Full Professor of Structural Mechanics at Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He published more than 140 scientific papers, 2 books and he holds 6 patents on microsystems and metamaterials. His research fields are theoretical, computational and experimental mechanics of Metamaterials, Smart Materials and Microsystems. His activity is focused on topics characterized by high interdisciplinarity, such as advanced functional materials (3D printing, piezoelectric materials, magnetic materials), innovative structures (MEMS, metamaterials), structural monitoring and parametric identification. He was the coordinator of the research unit at Politecnico di Milano in the project MetaVEH, funded by the European Union in the framework of Horizon2020. The project aimed at the realization of innovative devices joining metamaterials and energy harvesters at the micro-scale. In parallel with the teaching and research activities, he established solid links with the industry, through the execution of several consultancy and research contracts and the creation of an industrial spin-off (Phononic Vibes).

Claudia Comi, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano

Claudia Comi is Full Professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Politecnico di Milano, Italy. She has authored or co-authored about 200 scientific publications in various fields of solid and structural mechanics and holds 5 patents on microsystems. Her main research interests concern the theoretical and computational mechanics of materials and structures. Her research activities have focused on damage and quasi-brittle fracture modelling, instability and bifurcation phenomena, and nonlocal models for elastoplastic and damaging one-phase and multi-phase materials, including functionally graded materials. Her more recent research is devoted to the modelling of auxetic and locally resonant metamaterials, and to the design and reliability of microsystems.

Valentina Zega, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano

Valentina Zega received the Ph.D. degree in structural, seismic, and geotechnical engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2017. She is currently an Associate Professor and deputy director for talent development with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano. She has co-authored around 50 papers in international journals and 9 patents or deposited patents. Her research interests include the mechanical design and optimization of MEMS devices and metamaterials and the numerical modeling of their linear and nonlinear dynamic response. Since 2019, she has been a TPC Member of IEEE MEMS, IEEE EFTF-IFCS and IEEE INERTIAL conferences and TPC co-chair for IEEE INERTIAL 2026 conference. She is the recipient of the 2024 IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award in the area of Sensors (early career) and of the AIMETA 2024 junior award in the field of mechanics of solids and structures. She is an associate member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Inertial Sensors and Systems and a member of the EFTF Executive Committee.