V. Pierro

EDUCATION Vincenzo Pierro was born in Salerno, Italy, on July 28, 1967. He received the Laurea degree in Physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Salerno in 1990. During his studies, he was awarded (by EDISU) a scholarship to conduct his thesis research in General Relativity abroad at the Department of Astrophysics of the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. ACADEMIC CAREER He has been Associate Professor of Electromagnetic Fields at the University of Sannio, Italy, since 2001, after serving as Assistant Professor from 1995 to 2001. He obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification for Full Professorship in Electromagnetic Fields (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale, ASN) in 2012 and again in 2016. During his academic career, he has also been a research fellow at the Italian National Research Council (CNR), a member of the COLUMBUS metrology team at ESA-ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, and a visiting scientist at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo under the JSPS program of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. RESEARCH ACTIVITY Prof. Pierro has been involved in major international collaborations in gravitational-wave research. He collaborated with the TAMA group for interferometric gravitational-wave detection in 2005-2006, joined the LIGO Collaboration in 2007, and has been a member of the KAGRA Collaboration since 2012, with research activity also focused on cryogenic interferometry. Since 2017, he has been affiliated with the INFN Napoli Section and has been the head of the INFN Sannio/Salerno unit of the VIRGO project (Grant ID: VIRGO-SA), coordinating a research unit supported by INFN. Since 2025, he has also been responsible for the "Stack Engineering" research line within the optical Coating Research and Development (CRD) subsystem of VIRGO. SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS Prof. Pierro is a co-author of the first paper reporting the direct detection of gravitational waves from the GW150914 event, marking a milestone in modern physics. As a member of the LIGO discovery team, he contributed to research that received major international recognition. In 2020, he also co-founded the DARTWARS project at INFN Salerno. His research interests span applied physics, electromagnetics, electrodynamics, optics, astrophysics, and applied mathematics, particularly in the context of fundamental physics problems. EDITORIAL AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Prof. Pierro serves or has served on the editorial boards of several international journals in physics, optics, and space science. Since 2025, he has been a member of the Editorial Board of Discover Space (Springer Nature). He has also served on the editorial boards of Applied Sciences, Quantum Beam Science, Optics, and the American Journal of Physics and Applications. In 2021, he was Guest Editor of the special issue “Gravitational-Wave Observatory: The Realm of Applied Science.” He is a regular reviewer for major scientific publishers and journals, including APS, IOP, IEEE, and OSA, and has served as a reviewer for ANVUR, the Italian national agency for the evaluation of universities and research, since 2020. AWARDS, HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS As part of the LIGO discovery team, Prof. Pierro contributed to research associated with major international awards, including the 2016 Gruber Cosmology Prize, the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the 2017 Einstein Medal, the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research, and the 2021 IEEE Milestone LIGO-Virgo recognition. His scientific activity has also been recognized through inclusion in international rankings of leading researchers in astrophysics and among the world’s most cited scientists. He has been listed among the world’s top 2% scientists in the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics ( Stanford University's list of "World's Top 2%" scientists for the years 2021,2022, 2024 and 2025 in the Astronomy and Astrophysics area for his research in the field of gravitational wave detection) and has also been included in the Top Italian Scientist ranking in Astrophysics. PUBLICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS Prof. Pierro is the author of more than 300 technical papers in the field of applied physics. He is also the author or co-author of more than 30 internal technical reports in the LIGO Document Control Centre (DCC), several of which have been cited in the scientific literature. He is or has been a member of the LIGO, VIRGO, and KAGRA scientific collaborations, the DARTWARS project, INFN, and SIEM (Italian Society for Electromagnetism). He was also a member of the Italian Physical Society (SIF). SELECTED LINKS University of Sannio profile https://www.unisannio.it/it/user/530/ricerca VIRGO research group https://www.sa.infn.it/ricerca/virgo.asp Google Scholar https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=80kLutcAAAAJ Scopus Author Profile https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7003986939