{"id":230,"date":"2020-12-08T18:47:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T18:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/?page_id=230"},"modified":"2025-10-21T18:31:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T01:31:27","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Professional Preparation<\/h3>
  • 2001: Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology<\/li>
  • 1997: M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology<\/li>
  • 1994: B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, summa cum laude, Universita\u2019 degli Studi di Napoli\u00a0Federico II, Naples, Italy<\/li><\/ul>

    Appointments<\/h3>
    • 07\/2022-06\/2025: Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, \u00a0University of California, Davis<\/li>
    • 07\/2017-present:\u00a0Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, \u00a0University of California, Davis<\/li>
    • 07\/2011-06\/2017: Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, \u00a0University of California, Davis<\/li>
    • 07\/2005-06\/2011: Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, \u00a0University of California, Davis<\/li>
    • 8\/2002-06\/2005: Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah<\/li>
    • 8\/2001-8\/2002: Course Instructor for Computational Modeling for Civil and Environmental Engineers, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of \u00a0Technology<\/li>
    • 6\/1994-7\/1996: Research Fellow, Microgravity Advanced Research and Support (MARS) Center, Naples, Italy<\/li><\/ul>

      Fellowships, Honors, Awards<\/h3>
      • Co-winner of 3rd place for research, 2023 Future is Fungi International Award, with Christina Cogdell and Alejandra Ruiz (Team MycoTextiles Futures), the only non-European team from about 260 entries from 70 different countries<\/span><\/li>
      • 2022 Citations of Excellence recipient of the Faculty\/Staff Partnership Award for collaborating on the College of Engineering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (selected by UC Davis Staff Assembly; honor shared with the entire DEI committee)<\/span><\/li>
      • 2021 Lab Safety Award of the College of Engineering, UC Davis (Fall 2021), showcased on\u00a0https:\/\/safetyservices.ucdavis.edu\/units\/ehs\/research\/laboratory\/safety-awards\/la-saponara\u00a0<\/li>
      • Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (December 2018)<\/li>
      • Chair of the Executive Committee of the Materials Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2017\/2018. Was a member of the Executive Committee from 2014, rotating through a number of officer positions, all the way to Chair of the Division.<\/li>
      • Visiting professor fellowship, Universita’ La Sapienza (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy), 2015\/2016, Category A (outstanding researchers\/professors with excellent track-record and international recognition).\u00a0My ranking was #1 for the Faculty of Engineering.<\/li>
      • US National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2007-2012<\/li>
      • Luther Long III Award, Georgia Tech (USA), 2001-2002 for excellence in mechanics<\/li>
      • Amelia Earhart International Award, 2000-2001 and 1997-1998<\/li>
      • Clare Booth Luce Fellowship (USA), 1998-2001<\/li>
      • Georgia Tech Women\u2019s Forum Award (USA), 1998<\/li>
      • Fellowship from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, for graduate studies in United States, 1996-1997<\/li><\/ul>

        Other Professional Activities<\/h3>

        Co-founder (with Rachael Fulp-Cooke, MPH) and Chief Technology Officer of a start-up focused on the design of safer bicycle helmets for hard-to-fit children (05\/2016-12\/2019).<\/p>

        Professional Memberships<\/h3>
        • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Biography Professional Preparation 2001: Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology 1997: M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology 1994: B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, summa cum laude, Universita\u2019 degli Studi di Napoli\u00a0Federico II, Naples, Italy Appointments 07\/2022-06\/2025: Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, \u00a0University of California, Davis 07\/2017-present:\u00a0Professor, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-230","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":77,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2655,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/230\/revisions\/2655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/lasaponara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}