Chiara Bisagni

Dr. Chiara Bisagni has focused her research on aerospace composite structures since completing her Ph.D. She earned a master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan (POLIMI), where she later served as an assistant and associate professor of aerospace structures. During the 2006–2007 academic year, she was a visiting associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a Fulbright Fellowship, and in 2012, she was appointed full professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In January 2015, Chiara moved to Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) as a full professor of Aerospace Structures. In 2021, she was elected a member of the AIAA. In 2022, she was named a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy.

Chiara Bisagni’s research objectives are to develop new methodologies for the design, analysis, and testing of composite structures that can be used in the next generation of aircraft and spacecraft. To this end, she explores new methods for designing composite structures that can be applied in the early stages of the design process, combining numerical and analytical tools with a limited number of experimental tests. In particular, she investigates the design of aerospace composite structures, taking into account nonlinear phenomena such as buckling, post-buckling, impact resistance, damage propagation, and fatigue. Her research encompasses both theoretical and applied perspectives. Her group works on European projects as well as projects funded by the United States. He also collaborates with NASA’s Langley Research Center on fundamental research to be conducted in the field of advanced aerospace composite structures.