Ana Claudia Arias

Ana Claudia Arias (born 1973) is a Brazilian American physicist who is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research considers printed electronic materials and their application in flexible electronics and wearable medical devices.

Early life and education Arias was born in Londrina, Brazil. She studied physics at the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil, where she earned her master's degree in 1997. Arias moved to the United Kingdom as a graduate student, where she worked in the research group of Richard Friend. Her doctoral research involved investigations into phase-separation within conjugated polymer thin films used in solar cell and OLEDs. Friend and Arias filed several patents on printed electronic devices and materials.

Research and career Arias worked as a postdoc in the Optoelectronics group at the University of Cambridge, where she helped with the formation of the spin-off company Plastic Logic. At Plastic Logic Arias was responsible for the semiconductor group. At PARC, Arias was responsible for flexible and printed electronics. She worked on the fabrication of wearable sensors, including devices capable of preventing brain injuries in the battlefield. These devices worked by wirelessly monitoring of pressure and acoustic levels.

In 2011 Arias joined the University of California, Berkeley as a Professor of Flexible and Printed Electronics, where she serves as Faculty Director of the Berkeley Wireless Research Center. At Berkeley, she started to develop sensing systems that look track a patient's vital signs, and provide instant feedback to healthcare professionals.

Arias worked with Cambridge Display Technology to develop lightweight skin-like pulse oximeters. The oximeters make use of carbon-based (organic) semiconductors, which allow for the fabrication of low-cost electronic devices on flexible substrates. Beyond the measurement of blood oxygen, Arias has developed a multi-sensor platform capable of photoplethysmography and biomarker detection from human sweat. These sensing platforms allow insight into the physiological state of the human body. The sweat sensors developed by Arias consist of lactate, sodium and ammonium sensors.

Awards and honours 2017 FlexTech R&D Achievement Award 2025 class of IEEE Fellows

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