People
Prof.ssa Caterina Ciminelli, PhD
Scientific Coordinator
Full Professor
Phone: +39 080 5963404
Email: caterina.ciminelli@poliba.it
Caterina Ciminelli received the Laurea degree (1996) and the Ph.D. (2000) in electronic engi-neering from Politecnico di Bari, Italy. From 1999 to 2002, she did industrial research activity on optoelectronic components and subsystems with the R&D Division of Pirelli Optical Systems and Cisco Photonics, Italy, before joining Politecnico di Bari as an Assistant Professor of Electronics in 2002. From 2012 to 2021, she has been an associate professor. Since 2021, she has been a full professor with Politecnico di Bari where she is the scientist responsible for the Optoelectronics Laboratory. Her research interests include integrated optoelectronics and photonics.
Giuseppe Coviello, PhD
Assistant Professor
Phone: +39 080 596
Email: giuseppe.coviello@poliba.it
Giuseppe Coviello (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Bari, Italy, in 1981. He received the Laurea degree in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electric and information engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bari, Bari, in 2006 and 2015, respectively. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Polytechnic University of Bari. His research interests include the design of RF and mixed-signal circuits, embedded systems, and wearable technologies, with a focus on biomedical signal acquisition, sensor interfaces, and low-power hardware for healthcare monitoring and neurophysiological applications.
Giuseppe Brunetti, PhD
Assistant Professor
Phone: +39 080 5963044
Email: giuseppe.brunetti@poliba.it
Giuseppe Brunetti received the M.Sc. degree in Electronic Engineering (cum laude) and the Ph.D. degree in Information Engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy, in 2016 and 2020, respectively. His Ph.D. activity was focused on innovative photonic and optoelectronic devices for Space applications with European Space Agency (ESA) sponsorship in the framework of NPI project (367-2014). Since December 2020, he has been an Assistant Professor with Politecnico di Bari. His research interests include integrated optoelectronics and photonics devices and systems mainly in the context of biomedical and Space field.
Nabarun Saha, PhD
Assistant Professor
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: nabarun.saha@poliba.it
Nabarun Saha is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Politecnico Di Bari, Italy. He received his master’s degree in physics in 2014 from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), New Delhi, India, where he obtained the Ph.D. degree in 2020 on the topic of photonic-based sensors. After completing his Ph.D., he worked as a visiting researcher in Taiwan and project associate at IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur, India. He joined the optoelectronics laboratory, Politecnico Di Bari, Italy, towards the end of 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher, where he has been working as Assistant Professor since 2023. He is the author/coauthor of nearly 30 journal and conference papers. His research areas focus on developing integrated optoelectronics and photonics devices and systems, primarily within biomedical and space applications. His expertise lies in designing different devices and systems in the domain of integrated optical waveguides, plasmonic, meta surfaces, microwave photonics with target applications in biosensing, telecommunication, memristor, etc, as well as perovskite-based solar cells.
Giulio Campiti, PhD
Assistant Professor
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: giulio.campiti@poliba.it
Giulio Campiti received his M.Sc. (cum laude) in Space Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 2021, and his Ph.D. (cum laude) in Aerospace Sciences and Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bari in 2025. Since June 2025, he has been Assistant Professor (RTD-a) in Space Systems (IIND-01/E) at the Polytechnic University of Bari, where his research focuses on autonomous collision avoidance systems for spacecraft and cockpit design for lunar pressurized rovers. Since November 2024, he is also Adjunct Professor for the course “Spacecraft Architecture and Systems Engineering” within the M.Sc. program in Aerospace Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bari. He gained industry experience working in the Operations Department of ComSpOC Corporation (PA, USA) from July to September 2023, and again in October 2024.
Morteza Maleki, PhD
Research Grant Holder
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: morteza.maleki@poliba.it
Morteza Maleki earned his master’s degree from the University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran, in 2014, and his Ph.D. in gas sensors based on photonic nanostructures from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran, in 2022, where he also explored metal-oxide semiconductors using metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE). Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Politecnico di Bari, Italy, focusing on photonic sensors for space applications. With over a decade of experience teaching electronics courses in Iran, Morteza has taught various electronics courses. His research interests span plasmonics, dielectric photonics, optoelectronics, MEMS, and packaging technologies, with a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary projects.
Paola Colapietro
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: p.colapietro@phd.poliba.it
Paola Colapietro received her M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Electronic Engineering from the Politecnico di Bari, Italy, in 2022. In the same year, she joined the Optoelectronics Group, where she is currently engaged in research activities. She is presently pursuing a Ph.D. within the Industry 4.0 program at the Politecnico di Bari. Her research interests are centered on the design and development of advanced photonic devices and systems for biomedical applications.
Alessandra Colucci
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: a.colucci14@phd.poliba.it
Alessandra Colucci is a Ph.D. candidate at the Optoelectronics Laboratory of the Politecnico di Bari, where she focuses on the study and design of satellite systems for the monitoring and categorization of space objects.She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering from the Politecnico di Bari in 2021, followed by a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Salento in 2024.In 2024, she completed a two-month training program at COMSPOC Corp. in Pennsylvania, USA, where she deepened her expertise in Space Situational Awareness (SSA). From February to October 2024, she was awarded a postgraduate research fellowship by the Politecnico di Bari to investigate satellite systems for space debris monitoring.
Annarita di Toma
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: a.ditoma@phd.poliba.it
Annarita di Toma received the M.Sc. degree as valedictorian in Electronic Engineering (cum laude) from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy in 2022. During the same year, she joined the Optoelectronics Group where she is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree for the development of reconfigurable photonic devices and systems for Space applications. On 2025 she has won the first place in the idea category of the #T-TeC Telespazio Technology Contest organized Leonardo and Telespazio.
Aurora Elicio
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: a.elicio1@phd.poliba.it
Aurora Elicio earned her Bachelor’s degree in Medical Systems Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bari in 2020. In 2023, she completed a Master’s degree in Bioengineering at the University of Pavia, specializing in Cells, Tissues, and Devices. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Smart and Sustainable Industry at the Polytechnic University of Bari, where her research focuses on developing lab-on-a-chip systems for the sorting and counting of cancer cells to support early cancer diagnosis.
Parisa Khajegi
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: p.khajegikakhaki@phd.poliba.it
Parisa Khajegi received her first M.Sc. degree in Photonics in 2015 and another M.Sc. degree in Plasma Physics in 2023. Her fields of expertise are plasmonics, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), packaging, and nanotechnology. She joined the Optoelectronics Group on November 2024, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. focusing on Photonic Integrated Circuits for Scalable Quantum Applications.
Francesco Rocco Nardelli
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 596 3492
Email: f.nardelli@phd.poliba.it
Francesco Rocco Nardelli received the MSc degree (cum laude) in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico di Bari in 2023. He worked as a computer science teacher and was involved in the development and testing of electronic equipment in the field of audio engineering, working at GR Audio Srl. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Politecnico di Bari. His doctoral research focuses on the design and development of innovative optoelectronic and electronic solutions for nanosatellite power management and attitude determination and control systems.
Carlotta Panciera
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: c.panciera1@phd.poliba.it
Carlotta Panciera completed her M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Systems Engineering at the Politecnico di Bari, Italy, in 2023. In the same year, she joined the Optoelectronics Group as a Ph.D. student within the Smart and Sustainable Industry program. Her research focuses on photonic devices for medical sensing applications, with a particular emphasis on the design and optimization of the sensing component.
Maurizio Pellegrini
PhD Student
Phone: +39 080 5963492
Email: m.pellegrini4@phd.poliba.it
Maurizio Pellegrini received the bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in medical systems engineering at the Politecnico di Bari, Italy, in 2022 and 2023 respectively. In November 2023 he started a Ph.D. program in Aerospace Sciences and Engineering at the Politecnico di Bari. Currently working on the research and development of health monitoring technologies for astronauts during space missions.
Mattia Tagliente
PhD Student
Phone: +30 080 5963492
Email: mattia.tagliente@poliba.it
Mattia Tagliente joined the Optoelectronics Group in 2023 while completing his Master’s thesis. He earned his M.Eng. in Aerospace Engineering with honors from Università del Salento in Lecce, Italy, in 2024. That same year, he began a PhD at Politecnico di Bari, focusing on photonic technologies to enhance the performance of distributed Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite constellations. His research interests include the design of photonic and electronic devices and systems for space applications.
Nicola Sasanelli
Technical Assistant
Phone +39 080 5963492
Phone +39 080 5963435
Email: nicola.sasanelli@poliba.it
Nicola Sasanelli, graduated in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering at Politecnico di Bari in 2022. Since 2001 he is technical manager of the Optoelectronics Laboratory and the Multifunctional Laboratory of Electronics for Teaching. He has been involved in numerous national and international research projects, continues to carry out his work supporting teaching and research and his interests include integrated optoelectronics, photonics and electronics.