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Maria Chiara Carrozza (born Pisa, 16 September 1965) is an Italian scientist and politician for the Democratic Party. A professor of industrial bioengineering, she was also rector of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa. From 28 April 2013 to 22 February 2014 she was Minister of Education, University and Research in the Letta government.

Academic and scientific work
Carrozza graduated in physics at the University of Pisa in 1990 with a thesis on elementary particles. Her initial interest in the subject developed during an internship at CERN in Geneva, where she carried out experimental work. After graduating, she moved into bioengineering, a sector that has since occupied her research activity and academic career. In 1994 she obtained a post-graduate diploma in engineering from the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, with a thesis on biomedical microfluidics, and from 1994 to 1998 she was a post-doc fellow in bioengineering. From 1998 to 2001 he was a mechanical bioengineering researcher at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna; from 2001 to 2006 he has a role as associate professor of industrial bioengineering. In 2006 she became a full professor in industrial bioengineering. From November 2004 to October 2007 she was director of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna's Research Division, appointed by rector Paolo Ancilotti, and is coordinator of its Arts Lab (Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems Laboratory).

From 2004 to 2013 Carrozza held various academic positions at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna until she was elected Rector. She was re-elected for the second term as Rector in 2010 and until January 2013, when she resigned following her candidacy to the Italian Parliament's Chamber of Deputies, she worked to reform the institution's organizational structure, transitioning to the international model of research institutes to facilitate a greater flow of non-government funding. As Rector, one of Maria Chiara Carrozza's achievements was to enhance wider information-sharing among students, teachers and researchers and research and administrative technicians, and to promote transparency.

Carrozza has directed various research projects in neurorobotics, including developing prostheses of the hand and leg to restore amputees' sense of touch, improve dexterity, to walk and to carry weights, develop exoskeletons for the rehabilitation of people suffering from stroke or neuromuscular diseases, and develop assistive devices for the disabled. She is the coordinator of such projects funded by the European Commission, the Italian Ministry of Education, and by the Tuscany regional government. Carrozza's research group is composed of 40 scholars.

Since 2003 she has run university courses on the design of artificial hands, foundations of humanoid robotics, neuroscience and robotics, biomechatronics and rehabilitation bioengineering at the University of Pisa and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies. In 2003 she was a visiting professor at the University of Vienna, where she taught courses on biomechatronics. In 2004 she taught biomechatronics at the Campus Biomedico University of Rome. Maria Chiara Internationally Carrozza lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at the Collège de France and at the École Normale Supérieure in France, and at the University of Tokyo, in Japan.

Carrozza is a member of many national and international scientific societies and is a representative on many advisory bodies.

Prizes and awards
Carrozza has received many prizes and awards thoiughout her career. She was Italy's youngest university rector, and won the "Mela d'Oro" 2012 of the "Marisa Bellisario" prize awarded by the Marisa Bellisario Foundation. In 2005 the humanoid robotic hand designed and built at the Arts Lab, by the group coordinated by Maria Chiara Carrozza, was chosen to be exhibited in Japan at Aichi at Expo 2005 in the Italian pavilion. In 2006 the research group she worked with during her degree thesis was awarded the "High energy and particle physics" award, sponsored by the European Physical Society, "for showing for the first time Direct CP Violation in the decays of neutral K mesons ”. Carrozza's research students have also received many awards.

Political Activity
In 2009, Maria Chiara Carrozza became president of the Democratic Party's "University, Knowledge, Research Forum" of the Democratic Party. In 2013 she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies at the top of the Democratic Party ticket. At the same time she resigned as Rector of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies and began leave without pay as a professor. entered on leave as a university professor, without remuneration. She did not stand for re-election in 2018.

Minister of Education in the Letta government
Carrozza was Minister of Education, University and Research in the Letta Government. Among the changes she brought as minister was a prohibition against the opening of new state and telematic universities (unless involved in a merger), while for private individuals (non-telematics) the institution would be subjected to an in-depth evaluation.