Rita Macedo received her PhD in Physics Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST-UTL), under the topic “Nanofabrication of sub-50 nm Magnetic Tunnel Junctions and Self-Powered Hybrid Sensors”. She continued her research activities as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis and later at UC Berkeley, developing hybrid magnetic heterostructures. Later she co-founded Picosense, Inc. a start-up developing a hybrid magnetic sensor for heart monitoring, enabling her to develop skills in the domains related with transfer of knowledge and innovation. She has ~15 years of hands-on experience in clean room procedures and a strong expertise in the areas of micro- and nanotechnologies and corresponding applications.