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The third stage of the Best of 2021 brings us to the many awards and nominations from around the world, in which alumni and alumnae have distinguished themselves for their Made in Polimi factor.

"What a year for our ALUMNI!" - comments the President Enrico Zio - "A year that I can dare to say "normal", given the exceptional nature of our community of Alumni. The committment, professionalism, ethics and dedication of the Architects, Designers and Engineers of Politecnico di Milano, combined with the quality of their skills, "naturally" lead to these great results. So, let's continue to surprise the world with our "normal" work: I am the President of this community, and I am proud of it.

As of right now, the year is not over yet and the list could get longer. Surely, then, we will have lost someone along the way: in that case, let us know and we will correct it. What is certain is that these postcards from the podiums of the world, signed by Alumni and students of the Polytechnic, are a testimony of the strength of this community in the most varied fields.

April

An Italian wins the James F. Schumar Scholarship

Lorenzo Vergari, a Poli Nuclear Engineering Alumnus and now a PhD student at UC Berkeley, receives the prize that has been awarded annually since 1984 for research results in the field of materials science applied to nuclear power.

May

European Inventor Award 2021, Marco Donolato is a finalist

Magnetic nanoparticles used to diagnose diseases (including Covid19), cheaply and in minutes: a patent belonging to Italian startupper Marco Donolato, Physics Engineering alumnus, can detect infectious diseases, including Dengue fever, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2.The test requires a single drop of blood and produces accurate results in less than 10 minutes, enabling timely treatment of patients.

European Inventor Award 2021, the Alumnus Marco Donolato among the finalists

June

Elena Bottinelli wins the Premio Bellisario in the Management category

Women at the heart of the recovery: this is the message of the 33rd edition of the Marisa Bellisario Award “Women making a difference”. Among the other winners of this 33rd edition, the Marisa Bellisario Award Committee picked Alumna Elena Bottinelli, in the Management category.

Alumna Elena Bottinelli wins the Belisario Award in the Management category

August

Valentina Sumini nominated Ambassador for Italian Design 2021

Alumna and visiting professor at Politecnico di Milano, Sumini imagines an “architectural vision of space” and designs houses and hotels for living on other planets. She was conferred the title in Washington during the fifth edition of Italian Design Day, promoted by the Italian Embassy to celebrate Italian design and creativity in the world.

Alumna Valentina Sumini named ambassador of "Italian Design"

September

The Giorgio Modena Medal 2021 was awarded to Professor Pierangelo Metrangolo at Politecnico di Milano, for his research into the chemistry of halogenated compounds

The entire scientific world associates the discovery of the halogen bond to the Politecnico di Milano. If you have no idea what this is, it’s because it takes us to the frontiers of science: we talked about it directly with Professor Metrangolo,from the “Giulio Natta” Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering, at Politecnico di Milano, on alumni-polimi.itThe Medal, established in 2019, is awarded every two years to honour the memory and work of Giorgio Modena, one of the masters and pioneers of research in organic physical chemistry. “This is a great recognition for a scientist working on intermolecular interactions,” commented Professor Metrangolo. “And it is an honour that I share with my colleagues in the research group. In particular, with Giuseppe Resnati (of whom we have spoken on MAP 9, page 40) with whom I had the good fortune to discover something new in chemistry, which will be further studied and researched for decades.”

The 2021 Giorgio Modena medal awarded to professor Metrangolo

At the intersection of architecture and technology

The University of Southern Denmark (SDU) awarded the TEK Research Dissemination Prize 2021 toRoberto Naboni, architecture alumnus and Phd, now associate professor in Computational Design and Digital Fabrication at SDU, and founder and director of the CREATE research group working on Computational Research in Emergent Architectural Technology. “Researching at the intersection of architecture and technology is just so exciting these days, and this award motivates me to keep doing it, and continue speaking about it around the world and on social media”, comments Naboni.

October

James Dyson Award 2021 to three Politecnico students

Safer, more beautiful, sustainable roads: Luca Grosso, Silvana Migliozzi and Alessio Puleo, three students on the Laurea Magistrale (equivalent to Master’s degree) course Intregrated Product Design, won the award with their Roadfix project, a tool designed to repair road surfaces at no cost to the public budget, instead involving sponsor companies through a design project. The idea was conceived during the Concept Design Laboratory held by Prof. Massimo Bianchini al at the Politecnico and resulted in a prototype. The James Dyson Award is an international design award for young engineers and designers. These three Politecnico students stood out as the best young inventors among more than 2,000 participants who submitted inventions from 28 countries.

Safer, beautiful and sustainable roads: the JAMES DYSON AWARD given to three students of Politecnico

Eni Award: The President of the Italian Republic awards two Alumnae of Politecnico

Monica Ferro and Greta Colombo Dugoni, Politecnico di Milano alumnae and researchers, received their awards at Palazzo del Quirinale in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella during the 13th edition of the Eni Award for scientific research, with the special mention “Eni Joule for Entrepreneurship”. Also known as the “Nobel Prize for Energy”, this award is considered an international benchmark for research in the fields of energy and the environment. The alumnae received it for their work in the startup Bi-Rex, which they founded.

Eni Award: The President of the Italian Republic awards two Alumnae of Politecnico

November

Double silver for Politecnico Alumna Federica Fragapane

After winning second place at the European Design Awards in June, Fragapane, a Communication Design alumna, also received the Pierre Keller Award at the Hublot Design Prize 2021, the most important recognition in the design sector to support young talent. At London's Serpentine Galleries, 160 international art experts and gallerists gathered to present works by emerging and established artists from around the world. Federica Fragapane was picked as the winner for her data visualisation work that represents the complexity of data in organic and poetic forms.

2021 has been a year of silver for Fragapane, who also won second place at theall’European Design Awards in June.

Double silver for Politecnico Alumna Federica Fragapane

Alumna Tiziana Monterisi wins Fortune's Italia Prize

Monterisi won the MPW2021 – Fortune Italiaaward, which she received at the Fortune Italia MPW (Most Powerful Women) International Convention. An Architecture alumna, she is CEO and co-founder of Ricehouse, a company focused on transforming rice production waste into building and construction materials. The company uses all the natural materials that usually end up as waste to create building infrastructures.

Alumna Tiziana Monterisi wins Fortune's Italia Prize

Nellie Award Italia goes to young female graduates with big social impact

Awarded by The Circle Italia and Tiffany & co., the first edition picked three winners based on their academic achievements and the impact of their proposed solutions:Tracy Bassil,a Product Service Design and Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering alumna, developed a proposal to tackle the housing crisis after the Beirut port explosion in 2020. Marine Kerdaffrec, an Integrated Product Design alumna, designed a device that links asthma monitoring and air pollution detection. Elena Redaelli, a Biomedical Engineering alumna, developed a method to improve the lives of people operated on using the TEVAR technique.

3 Alumnae of Politecnico to receive the Nellie Award, the award for woman of excellence

We continue on our Best of 2021 journey: from Forbes to Corriere della Sera newspaper, the international press and businesses around the world celebrate the year's greatest professionals. Including many minds from Politecnico di Milano. 

"What a year for our ALUMNI!" - comments the President Enrico Zio - "A year that I can dare to say "normal", given the exceptional nature of our community of Alumni. The committment, professionalism, ethics and dedication of the Architects, Designers and Engineers of Politecnico di Milano, combined with the quality of their skills, "naturally" lead to these great results. So, let's continue to surprise the world with our "normal" work: I am the President of this community, and I am proud of it.

As of right now, the year is not over yet and the list could get longer. Surely, then, we will have lost someone along the way: in that case, let us know and we will correct it. What is certain is that these postcards from the podiums of the world, signed by Alumni and students of the Polytechnic, are a testimony of the strength of this community in the most varied fields.  

March 

11 Politecnico students on the Forbes list of young innovators  

This is the famous list of under-30s to keep an eye on due to their ideas and the impact they will have on the world. They also included several Politecnico students: Giovanni Pandolfi Bortoletto, 29, Aeronautical Engineering, founder of Leaf Space, in the science category;Matteo Marzorati, 26, games category, founder of Cordens Interactive and a Product Service System Design Alumnus; Domitilla Rapisardi, 29, art&style category, founder of IINDACO and a Fashion Design Alumna; Francesca Bona, 29, in the energy category, energy transition expert, Energy Engineering; ​Andrea Evangelista and Chiara Riente, both 27, Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology and Communication Design alumni, founders of Piantando, for the social impact category; Marco Laganà, 29, e-commerce category, founder of Dog Heroes, Fashion Alumnus; Elisa Piscitelli, 30, and Mariapaola Testa,29, Management Engineering, education category, founded Orientami; Enrico Bertino, Mathematical Engineering, and Gianluca Maruzzella, Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, founders of Indigo. ai, enterprise technology category.

11 Alumni of Politecnico in Forbes' list of young innovators

April 

World’s top 50 best designers of 2021 according to Marie Claire 

Among the world’s top 50 designers, this renowned magazine numbers Elena Salmistraro, an Industrial Design Alumna, designer, painter and illustrator for big names such as Apple, Disney and Ikea.

Shaping the future of business through AI: 40 women on IBM’s list 

The list of the top 40 women in artificial intelligence includes two Politecnico students, both Electronic Engineering Alumnae: Donatella Sciuto, vice-rector of Politecnico di Milano and rector’s delegate for Research and Diversity, and Elisabetta Burei, an Electronic Engineering alumna and Senior demand&project manager at CheBanca!

Shaping the future of business through AI

Information security gurus in Italy 

La Repubblica newspaper lists the top 50 Italian experts in cyber security, at international level. Among them, 4 Alumni: Vincenzo Iozzo, Engineering of Computing Systems, Senior Director at CrowdStrike, leaders in the field of cyber-security; Luigi Rebuffi, general secretary atEuropean Cyber Security Organisation, Nuclear Engineering Alumnus (and guest at the 10th Politecnico di Milano Alumni Convention on 13 November 2021); Giovanni Vigna, Electronic Engineering and Phd, professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB), founder of the Shellphish hacker group (her lectures on hacking are available on YouTube); Stefano Zanero, Engineering of Computing Systems Alumnus, associate professor  at Politecnico Milano.

Italy's 50 gurus of Cyber Security

September 

5 Politecnico alumnae among Italy’s “inspiring 50”  

Women at the top of the technological world in Italy: from digital, to artificial intelligence, robotics, life sciences and so on. 5 international alumnae on the list: Cristina Canavesi, Telecommunication Engineering, Co-founder & President at LighTop Tech Corp; Elena Bottinelli,, Electronic Engineering, today Head of Innovation, Digitalization and Sustainability at Gruppo San Donato; Guendalina Cobianchi, SVP Business Development & Partnerships in V-Nova, Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering; Monica Dalla Riva, , VP Design & CX at Deutsche Telekom, Industrial Design;Patrizia Casali, Biomedical Engineering, innovation developer and team leader. And the UK list includes Marzia Bolpagni, Architecture PhD alumna. She specialises in Building Information Modelling and also won the young engineer of the year award from the Royal Academy of Engineering, which each year selects 5 engineers, and she received the prestigious Sir George Macfarlane Medal, given to young professionals.

5 Alumnae of Politecnico di Milano among the italian"inspiring FIfty"

October 

The 100 “wonder women” 

Still with Forbes, for the fourth consecutive year this magazine celebrates 1100 most successful female Italian leaders selected from scientists, sporting champions, business visionaries, and managers. They include two of our Alumnae:

Emanuela Trentin, Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, CEO at Siram Veolia (she was a guest at the 10th Politecnico di Milano Alumni Convention) and Virginia Magliulo, Electronic Engineering, President of Global View HCM in ADP (we find her in the book “TOWARDS 2099 - 87 Tips from the great Alumni of the Politecnico di Milano”)

Italian successful women: the two Alumnae of the latest Forbes' list

Tra i 100 migliori manager secondo Forbes Italia 

There is also Giuseppe Di Franco, Group Executive Vice President – Global Head of Resources & Services and CEO of Italy at Atos. We also find him in the book “TOWARDS 2099 - 87 Tips from the great Alumni of the Politecnico di Milano”.

Narvalo: a mask for urban use equipped with a system that regulates the flow of air to always provide maximum breathing comfort combined with the best filter protection against fine dust, smog, pollen, viruses and bacteria. Read more on the dedicated website at ADI DESIGN INDEX 2021, the annual selection of the best Italian design, made by the Permanent Design Observatory, which is the qualifying round for the Compasso D'Oro.

Narvalo was in fact selected in the ADI Design Index 2021. But it is an old acquaintance of ours ("old" so to speak: it arrived on the market in 2020): we also talked about it in MAP # 7 ( you can read the whole story of Narvalo Urban Mask at this link ), with an exclusive interview with Ewoud Westerduin , Alumnus Integrated Product Design and founder of the start-up that developed the product.

"The 3D fabric is obtained from a three-level weaving process, in which the upper and lower layers are joined to an intermediate layer, called a spacer layer, of variable thickness depending on the need," explains Westerduin. "The filtering part is composed of various layers of non-woven polypropylene-based fabric which, combined with a layer treated with activated carbon, are able to filter 99.9% of particulate matter, smog, pollen, bacteria , viruses and odors . The external part is water-repellent, while the internal band, in contact with the skin, in addition to being also water-repellent, is in hypoallergenic and self-sanitizing material ». We add: it also serves to prevent the glasses from fogging up, and this season is no small feat.

About the ADI Design Index, the Alumnus comments on LinkedIn : "I am very happy to be able to share this with the whole team of our startup! As part of the recognition, our Narvalo Urban Active Mask is exhibited at ADI Design Museum in the temporary exhibition, and will soon be exhibited in Rome too”.

The crowning achievement of a whole year with the turbo for the Narvalo team, which earlier this year also won a Red Dot Design Award Product Design , one of the awards of the most prestigious international design since 1954 and which each year chooses design projects from three areas of the discipline: Product Design, Brand & Communication Design and Design Concept. The jury is made up of 50 international members representing the three categories who individually test and evaluate the various candidate projects. This year, projects from over 60 countries participated.

In this first "sneak peek" of the Best moments of 2021, we want to remember the victories that made us cheer with #orgoglioPolitecnico. 

"What a year for our ALUMNI!" - comments the President Enrico Zio - "A year that I can dare to say "normal", given the exceptional nature of our community of Alumni. The committment, professionalism, ethics and dedication of the Architects, Designers and Engineers of Politecnico di Milano, combined with the quality of their skills, "naturally" lead to these great results. So, let's continue to surprise the world with our "normal" work: I am the President of this community, and I am proud of it.

As of right now, the year is not over yet and the list could get longer. Surely, then, we will have lost someone along the way: in that case, let us know and we will correct it. What is certain is that these postcards from the podiums of the world, signed by Alumni and students of the Polytechnic, are a testimony of the strength of this community in the most varied fields.  

TOKYO OLYMPICS 

A fantastic year for Italian sport, and also for Polimi sport, which contributed 7 Olympic medals to the many victories achieved. 

— 

Manfredi Rizzaa Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology alumnus, brought home a silver in the K1 200 metres at the Tokyo Olympics 

Alberto Amodeoan Automation Engineering student, silver medal in the 400m freestyle at the Paralympics 

Simone Barlaama Mechanical Engineering student, gold in the 50m freestyle, silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay, silver in the 100m butterfly and bronze in the 4×100 mixed relay at the Paralympics 

Giulia Ghirettia Biomedical Engineering student, silver in the 100m breaststroke at the Paralympics 

The men’s track pursuit team won the gold medal and set a new world record (3:42:032) in a race that was tight to the very last second. This achievement was also thanks in part to Politecnico di Milano and the Wind Tunnel. 

“To prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, the men and women's track pursuit quartets came to the Wind Tunnel to optimise their performance from an aerodynamic point of view, checking materials and position on the saddle,” commented Prof. Marco Belloli, Wind Tunnel scientific director.  

Olympic gold and world record: Politecnico's contribution to the italian track pursuit team

NOT JUST OLYMPICS: A YEAR OF PODIUM PLACES  

February 

Luna Rossa dominated the Prada’s Cup, beating the British crew 7-1 and earning a place in the America’s Cup for the first time in 21 years. The Italian team included four Politecnico di Milano alumni:

Alessandro Franceschetti, Head of Structural Engineering, Alumnus Polimi Ingegneria dei Materiali
Fabrizio Marabini, Performance, Alumnus Polimi Ingegneria Aeronautica
Stefano Baruffaldi, Drone – Electronics, Alumnus Polimi Disegno Industriale
Andrea Romani, Base Operations Manager, Alumnus Polimi Architettura

Unlucky in the final, the Italian team paid tribute to their opponents: “We showed the whole world that we can do it,” commented helmsman Francesco Bruni. “This is not the end of Luna Rossa’s story in the America’s Cup, we'll try again with more experience”. 

4 Alumni of Politecnico di Milano in Luna Rossa’s team

JULY 

Great result for the boys and girls on the Polimi Motorcycle Factory team in the 6th Moto Student competition: after three years of hard work with Nyx, the #electric prototype, they won first place as Best Industrial Project, first place in the acceleration test and the highest speed in the championship, reaching 200.0 km/h.

Ilaria Burattina Product Design alumna, and her teammates won the title and set a new Italian club record in the 4×400 relay, with a time of 3'31"16. 

October 

Following last year’s victory, the Polimi team also won the second edition of the “Leonardo Drone Contest. An Open Innovation Challenge”, a competition that is one of a kind in Italy, launched by Leonardo to promote the development of Artificial Intelligence applied to unmanned systems.

Artificial Intelligence: first place for Politecnico at Leonardo Drone Contest

Indy Autonomous Challenge: oro mancato d’un soffio per il team Polimove, che conquista il terzo posto e il record di velocità: “252 km/h, col motore che andava a 6000 giri: abbiamo fatto il record e ci siamo schiantati 10 secondi dopo”, commenta il prof. Savaresi, capogruppo del progetto. Sulla pista di Indianapolis si sono sfidati 28 team di oltre 500 studenti universitari appartenenti a 39 atenei di 11 Paesi.

Indy Autonomous Challenge: Polimove misses gold by a whisker

November 

Football americano, un altro bellissimo risultato per l’Italia: Alessandro Vergani and Tommaso Finadri; Alumni Ingegneria Aerospaziale, insieme a Riccardo De Mas; Alumnus Ingegneria dei Materiali e delle Nanotecnologie, si sono laureati campioni agli europei battendo in casa la Svezia 41 a 14.

Launched in 2016, the project “ The Future Makers ” of the BCG - Boston Consulting Group has the ambition to offer 100 talents (50 boys and 50 girls) among the 23 and 26 years old, representative of the most prestigious universities, the tools to strengthen their leadership and prepare them to be authoritative voices of the future Italian ruling class.

During the fifth edition of this year, the boys and girls selected from over 10,000 applications had the opportunity to meet in Milan with the most authoritative voices of the economy and society, with a particular focus on personalities engaged in various forms of sustainability on a global level.

Among the talents of this year there are 10 politecnico , students and Alumni who have distinguished themselves not only for their academic curriculum, but also for resourcefulness, ability to work in groups, communication and listening.

LET'S MEET THE 10 FUTURE MAKERS OF POLITECNICO