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Alexander von Humboldt Professorship 2026

Luisa Petti

Top researcher Luisa Petti is striving to make electronics more sustainable and flexible, for example by using environmentally friendly materials and printing technologies. Her technical expertise is sought after to fill the gap between neuromorphic computing and bioelectronics at RWTH Aachen University.

  • Nominating university: RWTH Aachen University
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Electrical engineering

Sensors that grow on leaves, medical appliances that are worn like plasters and can subsequently be composted, and electronic systems that don’t need batteries – this is the future Luisa Petti is working to achieve.

Her research focuses on electronics and sensors made of innovative materials. Her aim is to create sensors that can be recycled or are biodegradable. To this end, Luisa Petti develops materials which contain no toxic or harmful substances and can ideally be reclaimed from waste. She wants her technologies to be both ecologically compatible and economically scalable. They are destined for use in environmental monitoring, health research and precision agriculture.

Together with her team, for instance, Petti has developed sensors that are small, user-friendly and cost-effective and make it possible to detect nanoplastic in different bodies of water. The sensors are based on so-called carbon nanotubes – tiny, tubular structures made of carbon that exhibit excellent electrical conductivity. The nanotubes are extremely sensitive to changes in their environment. When they come into contact with particles of nanoplastic, the latter influence the tubes’ ability to conduct electricity. This change can be measured and acts as an indicator for the presence of nanoplastic in water.

RWTH Aachen University is keen to strengthen the links between life sciences and engineering sciences. Another goal is to develop computer hardware to significantly reduce the CO2 footprint of AI systems. As a Humboldt Professor, Luisa Petti’s holistic, application-oriented approach will see her playing a central role in two profile areas: neuromorphic computing and bioelectronics.

Brief bio

Luisa Petti completed her doctorate at ETH Zurich in 2016. She then conducted research at Imperial College London and Apple Inc., United States, before relocating to Cambridge, United Kingdom, to work for Cambridge Display Technology Ltd and FlexEnable Ltd. In 2018, she was appointed to a research position at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, becoming an associate professor in the Faculty of Engineering in 2021.

Luisa Petti has been selected for a Humboldt Professorship and is currently conducting appointment negotiations with the German university that nominated him for the award. If the negotiations end successfully, the award will be granted in 2026.