Caterina Ducati

Caterina Ducati is an Italian materials scientist. She is a Professor of Nanomaterials in the Department of Materials at the University of Cambridge. She serves as Director of the University of Cambridge Master's programme in Micro- and Nanotechnology Enterprise as well as leading teaching in the Nanotechnology Doctoral Training Centre.

Early life and education Ducati was born in Milan. She studied at the University of Milan, where she earned an undergraduate degree in physics. Her research project involved designing a time-of-flight mass spectrometer for supersonic cluster beams under the supervision of Paolo Milani. This included the development of carbon nanotubes and investigations into their growth models using transmission electron microscopy.

Research and career In 2003, Ducati was awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership fellowship working on the 4151 programme with Alphasense Limited. In 2004, she was made a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin fellow, where she started to research metal oxide nanostructures for catalysis. She was simultaneously awarded a Sackler junior fellowship. She was subsequently awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to explore electron microscopy of nanostructures, and was based in Churchill College, Cambridge. This involved developing transmission electron microscopy to study the nanoscale properties of solar cells, which allows better understanding of how electrons move through a structured anode. She was elected to AcademiaNet in 2011. Ducati has worked with the Institute of Physics Electron Microscopy and Analysis group and the Nanoscale Physics and Technology Group. She worked with Rachel Oliver on the delivery of Master's course in Micro- & Nanotechnology Enterprise.

She was promoted to Professor of Nanomaterials in 2019 and serves as Tutor and Director of Studies of Materials Science in Trinity College, Cambridge. She has led activities at Trinity to improve the representation of women scientists.

Awards In 2018, Ducati was awarded the Royal Microscopical Society Medal for Innovation in Applied Microscopy for Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Personal life Ducati has two sons born in 2003 and 2007.