Program Staff

Mariapia Martino holds a BSc. in Design. She is with the Energy Department since 1992. She is in charge for the management of student services at Energy Department, supervising all the process regarding the students plans and lecturers' program and she manages also the dissemination and communication activities for the Energy Department. She is appointed as representative for the Quality Assurance in the education framework at Politecnico di Torino for the MScs in Energetic and Nuclear Engineering and Electrical Engineering. She is involved in some EU funded projects, and she takes care of the possible cross-action between research and education that can arise from the EU funded projects. Mariapia will be supported by the Board of Directors of HySET.

Prof. Massimo Santarelli, Ph.D. in Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, Full Professor at Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino. Affiliated to KTH Stockholm, UPC Barcelona, UIC Chicago. Research Fellow in Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and national Research Center (CNR). Author of around 290 papers in international journals and conferences (h-index 50). The main research activity is linked to the topic of complex innovative systems (thermo-chemical and electro-chemical processes) applied to the energy sector: energy-to-X paradigms and related technologies. Coordinator of the STEPS laboratory (Synergies of Thermo-chemical and Electro-chemical Power Systems), HySyLab laboratory (Hydrogen System Lab), and of the CCL laboratory (CO2 Circle Lab) of Politecnico di Torino. Coordinator of EU Projects SOFCOM (FCH1-JU Call 2010), DEMOSOFC (FCH2-JU Call 2014), REMOTE (FCH2-JU Call 2017). Partner in EU projects (TULIPS, BEST4Hy, SUBLIME, ICO2CHEM, COMSOS, TEACHY, ENEFIELD, ENFICA-FC, BRISK II, SELECT-CD, Explore Energy, Virtual Hub, MARS-EV), Coordinator of several National Projects. Coordinator of the MSc Erasmus+ HySET “Hydrogen Systems and Enabling Technologies”. Partner of the MSc InnoEnergy SELECT and E-STORE. Partner of the MSc Erasmus+ DENSYS. Member for Italy of ISO/TC 197 “Hydrogen Technologies” and of IEC-TC 105 “Fuel Cells”.

Passionate researcher of industrial innovation, Gianluca Valenti is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano, a major Italian technical university, where he is dedicated to both numerical and experimental investigations in the fields of industrial processes and fluid machines. He is author of over 80 publications and inventor of 5 granted patents as well as 2 patent applications. He fulfilled the Laurea in Mechanical Engineering (‘02) and the Doctorate in Energy Engineering (‘06) at Politecnico, and also the Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago (‘01) and the Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering at Stanford University (‘05). He has been member of the energy technical committee of Skolkovo Innovation Center, a Russian research center, from 2012 to 2021. He is the Rector’s Delegate for International Relations with North America since early 2020. Lastly, he co-founded an innovative small enterprise in the cleantech sector in 2013.

John van der Schaaf is Full Professor in the Sustainable Process Engineering Group and Director of Education for BSc and MSc programs Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at TU/e. He focuses his research on the development of catalytic and non-catalytic multiphase reactors that use rotation to create high gravity and high shear conditions. These conditions lead to excellent interphase mass transfer, intraphase mixing, and fluid-to-wall heat transfer. Applications are especially in (exothermic) fast reactions that are interphase mass transfer limited, are mixing limited, or are heat transfer limited. Similarly, distillation (gas-liquid), extraction (liquid-liquid), and crystallization (liquid-solid) can be intensified allowing for extremely compact equipment for the chemical industry, easily a factor hundred smaller than conventional equipment. Smaller equipment allows for safe use of high temperatures and high pressures, enlarging the economic process window, but also for agile operation of chemical processes in unsteady-state, in line with renewable energy availability. Current research focuses on electrochemical conversions and new processes for renewable chemicals production. Author of 162 papers in international journals (h-index 39). Other principle investigators in the Sustainable Process Engineering group are prof. Fausto Gallucci (inorganic membranes, plasmareactors), prof. Evgeny Rebrov (alternative energy reactors), dr. Thijs de Groot (Electrochemical Engineering), dr. Fernanda Neira d’Angelo (biomass conversion).

Prof. Nicola Paltrinieri, Ph.D. in Environmental, Safety and Chemical Engineering, Full Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU. Adjunct Professor at Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna. Author of around 170 papers in international journals and conferences (h-index 25). The main research activity is linked to process safety and risk management. Head of the NTNU Energy Team Hydrogen, which groups NTNU professors and researchers who work within the Hydrogen R&D value chain. Leader of the Research Area “Safety and Material Integrity" within the national research center HYDROGENi. Manager of the Topical Area on Safety within the national PhD School HySchool. Coordinator of the project SUSHy (EIG-Concert Japan). Partner in EU projects (H2CoopStorage, H2GLASS, HyInHeat, ELVHYS). Partner in the national project SH2IFT-2. Local coordinator at NTNU of the MSc Erasmus+ HySET “Hydrogen Systems and Enabling Technologies”. Chartered Engineer and Scientist respectively registered in the British Engineering and Science Council registers. Associate editor for the journal “Safety Science”. Norwegian Delegate of the Working Party on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion, European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE).

Professor Attila Husar is part of the Department of Fluid Mechanics at the Universitat Poitencinca de Catalunya. BarcelonaTech (UPC) at the Barcelona East School of Engineering (EEBE). He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering ever since and has over 20 years of experience in hydrogen PEM fuel cell modeling, control, and integration into real-world applications from stationary to automotive systems. He is currently the scientific coordinator of the UPC Hydrogen lab and is the deputy director of the Specific Center for Hydrogen Research. Dr. Husar has led several local, national, and European projects since 2012. For example, Puma Mind and InnBallance European Commission funded projects.

Graduated in Information & Communication Technology (DA-IICT in India & NTU in Singapore) and later, at a master’s level, in Nanotechnology for Integrated Circuits (from Politecnico di Torino, INP Grenoble & EPF Lausanne), Raghu obtained in 2012 an MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs, after having been a tech entrepreneur by co-founding 2 startups in the sectors of smart-city and biotech (US and Switzerland). Since 2013 he has been working in CDI together with the leadership team of Fondazione Agnelli and Exor towards developing systemic projects in enabling innovation inside Europe and European MNCs while supporting the origination of deep-tech start-ups with post graduate populations like PhD, MBA, etc. Some of these projects like I4C, CDILabs, Exor Seeds Italy and Italian tech have been successfully set-up and are currently well established in their respective ecosystems and in a scaling phase. 

Mechanical Engineer graduated in top Italian (Politecnico di Torino e Politecnico di Milano) and U.S.A. (University of Illinois at Chicago) universities, with an MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs and 12+ years of experience in Innovation, built across roles of growing importance held in consolidated companies (e.g. Pirelli), in startups (e.g. GELLIFY) and in consultancy (e.g. Porsche Consulting). Erika today leads innovation, digitalization and new business model strategies for big corporations by managing the innovation advisory unit of Collège des Ingénieurs. Aside to her main role, she enjoys designing and delivering executive courses, especially on the topic of digital transformation and entrepreneurship.