Clementina Sasso is a researcher in solar physics at the INAF-Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory, Naples. She is part of the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter space mission team, which launched on February 10th, 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, where she serves as: Co-Investigator of the Metis coronagraph, part of the scientific payload aboard the mission and responsible for the planning software and communication; Co-Chair of the Modeling and Data Analysis Working Group (MADAWG), set up by ESA for the mission; and ESA spokesperson for the press during the launch campaign.

Clementina is a member of the Organizing Committee of the working group "Professional-Amateur Relations in Astronomy" of the International Astronomical Union. She graduated with honors in Physics at the "Federico II" University of Naples and earned a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the "Georg-August-Universität" of Göttingen, Germany, with a thesis carried out at the Max Planck for Solar System Research. She is the author of scientific articles published in peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed journals in the research field of solar and stellar physics and has attended numerous invited and non-invited scientific conferences.

IVLP Impact Award Project: The Fight Against Gender Stereotypes Begins in the Classroom

This project will implement a teacher training course focused on gender stereotypes in STEM. Through the project's workshops, teachers will be trained to understand, recognize and deconstruct gender stereotypes to help them implement educational practices resulting in more inclusivity when it comes to gender. Furthermore, they will be able to educate their students to recognize and deconstruct gender stereotypes, thus helping them make more informed choices about their future studies and careers.

"I plan to support individuals in recognizing and understanding how their choices are affected by gender stereotypes in order to enable them to make more informed choices, free from prejudices without any scientific foundation." - Clementina Sasso

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Clementina was a participant in the IVLP Project Hidden No More: Empowering Women Leaders in STEM, organized by the U.S. Department of State and FHI 360.

Her exchange experience led her to develop her IVLP Impact Award Project: "I learned a lot about techniques and methods to address the problem of underrepresentation of women in STEM fields."

U.S. Communities Visited

Huntsville, AL; Los Angeles, CA; Washington, DC; Chicago, IL

"During my IVLP project, I visited four different cities in the United States, engaging with many STEM companies and STEM-oriented high schools that work in different ways to increase the number of girls and women in these fields." - Clementina Sasso

Country: Italy

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