Valeria Riccardo

Valeria Riccardo is a highly experienced engineering professional currently serving as Head of Mechanical Engineering at Commonwealth Fusion Systems since August 2020, leading a team in the design of mechanical systems for the SPARC tokamak. Prior to this role, Valeria held the position of Head Of Engineering at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory from December 2016 to August 2020, where management of approximately 200 staff was key in reinforcing engineering processes to achieve project objectives. Valeria's earlier experience includes serving as Chief Engineer at UKAEA, advising on engineering matters and overseeing technical inquiries, and as Deputy Chief Engineer and Engineering Analysis Group Leader, managing critical assessments and projects including the ITER-like Wall project. Valeria's academic background includes a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London and degrees in energetics and nuclear engineering from Politecnico di Torino.