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 earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1994 in aerospace engineering from the University of Naples Federico II . After continued work at the MARS Center, an aerospace contractor in Naples. She laster completed a Master of Science and a Ph. D. and a 2021 in aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Following her doctoral studies, La Saponara held academic appointments in mechanical engineering, including a faculty position at the University of Utah.