Special Session 5

Recent outstanding progress in intelligent materials formulation, sensor and wearable technology, sensor networks development and IoT widespread diffusion, paved the way to the design of complex systems monitoring physical, physiological, behavioural parameters of several different categories of end-users. The final user is always more the focal point around which these devices and systems are designed and developed. How are the user needs and features considered in this process? In which way are the differences related, for example, to the gender, taken into account when designing such systems?

Gender and other user-specific aspects drive the way the subject approaches and interacts with the system. Relevant gender- and user-related design aspects include: wearability, physiological constrains, user interfaces, measurement reference parameters, sensor placement, personal data management and usage, adaptability, acceptance, tolerability, inclination to share personal data, and so on.
This special session encourages submissions about how the design of measurement systems and IoT applications may deal with issues user-specific in general, and gender-related in particular, in order to share views, approaches, and best practices for the development of user-centered gender-aware innovative devices and systems.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• User-driven design approaches;
• Inclusive design of measurement systems;
• Best practices in accounting diversity by design;
• Gender-diversified approaches to the interaction with physical and virtual systems;
• Gender diversity and inclusivity in sensor technology, interfaces, wearable devices, and on-body measurements;
• Strategies and practices to avoid gender bias in system design, machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms in IoT applications;
• Gender-based information management for collecting, processing, distributing and sharing measured data;
• Measurements and data to inform gender research in everyday life, medicine, social sciences, product design, sport, etc.

Sara Coppola was born in Piano di Sorrento (NA), Italy, in 1982. She received the B.S., M.S. degrees in 2008, in biomedical engineering with laude, and the Ph.D. degree in material and structural engineering from the University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy, in 2014. From 2008 to 2015, she was a Researcher with the National Institute of Optics (INOCNR), Naples. Since 2015, she has been Research Scientist with the Institute of Applied Science and Intelligent Systems (ISASI-CNR), Pozzuoli, Italy. She has authored or coauthored about five books, more than 70 articles, and two patents. Her research interests include materials science, self-assembly, lab-on-a-chip, direct writing, high resolution printing, optics, microfulidic and, innovative manipulation of liquids, and polymers by pyroelectrodynamic. She was the recipient of international awards among them the International Awards Springer Theses the “Best of the Best” Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research in 2016, and Best Doctoral Thesis in Optoelectronics, assigned by IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Photonics Society Italian Chapter in 2014.

Monica La Mura, received the B.S. and the M.S. degrees cum laude in electronic engineering in 2015 and the Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering in 2019 from the University of Salerno, Italy.
Since 2019, she is Post-Doc Researcher at the Dept. of Information and Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics at the University of Salerno. Her research interests include the design, characterization, and robustness assessment of micro- and nano-electronic devices, such as piezoelectric and capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers CMUTs), graphene-based transistors for RF applications, and 2D material-based THz devices.
In IEEE since 2009, Dr. La Mura is actively involved in the IEEE Italy Section Women in Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group.

Cristina Ponti received the Laurea and Laurea Magistralis degrees (cum laude) in electronic engineering from “Sapienza” University of Rome, Italy, in 2004 and 2006, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from “Roma Tre” University, Rome, Italy, in March 2010. Since 2010 to November 2021, she has been Assistant Professor in electromagnetic fields at “Roma Tre” University. Since December 2021 she is an Assistant Professor (tenure track) at the Department of Industrial, Electronical, and Mechanical Engineering of “Roma Tre” University. Her main research interests are in the electromagnetic analysis, scattering problems, buried-objects detection, ground-penetrating radar, through-the-wall radar, electromagnetic-bandgap materials, antennas, bioelectromagnetic interaction, and microwave components for high-power applications and nuclear fusion. She was a Co-Convener of conference sessions at URSI EMTS 2016, URSI EMTS 2019, and URSI GASS 2021. She is an Associate Editor of the international journal IET Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation. She is in the National Interuniversity Consortium for Telecommunications (CNIT), and the Italian Society of Electromagnetics (SIEm). She is an IEEE member (since 2009), and member of IEEE Antennas and Propagation, Geoscience and Remote Sensing and Women in Engineering (WIE) Societies. Dr. Ponti is actively involved in the IEEE Italy Section Women in Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group.

Paola Saccomandi is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano.
She received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma in 2014. From 2016 to 2018 she was a postdoctoral researcher at the IHU - Institute of Image-Guided Surgery of Strasbourg. Presently she is the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council Starting grant "LASER OPTIMAL”, and of other national projects. She is co-author of more than 170 scientific publications and reviewer for several international journals and national and international calls. Her main research interests include the development of light-based approaches for hyperthermal tumor treatment and monitoring, fiber optic sensors, and biomedical and hyperspectral imaging. Since is IEEE Senior member (2020), and IEEE member of several societies, including IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Women in Engineering Society. She is Co-founder and Officer (secretary) of the IEEE Italy Sensors Chapter. She has served as Technical Program Co-chair for IEEE Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT (MetroInd) in 2020 and 2021, and for IEEE International Symposium on Measurements and Medical Applications (MeMeA) in 2021. She has organized special sessions and workshops at the IEEE conferences MeMeA, MetroInd, EMBC, I2MTC.