Valeria La Saponara

Valeria La Saponara (born 1970) is an Italian-American mechanical and aerospace engineer whose research studies mycelium-based materials and the durability of biodegradable fiber-reinforced composite materials, particularly for applications in aerospace and in wind energy. She is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Davis.

Education and career
La 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.

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.

Recognition
La Saponara was elected as an ASME Fellow in 2018.