Smart surfaces
I’m Donato Di Vito, and I joined TactoTek in November 2021 as FEM Simulations expert. My objective is to work in close collaboration with others to improve different aspects of both IMSE and the IMSE process through Finite Element simulations.
I studied Materials Engineering at the University of Naples ‘Federico II’, in Italy. I also got my PhD there, focusing on how to characterize and describe the mechanical behavior of highly deformable materials. During that time, I often travelled to Dresden, as part of my PhD activities, to be able to use complex instruments for mechanical characterization and bring forward the research activities for my doctorate. There, I discovered what it means to be part of an international community, composed of people coming from many different countries; I was awestruck by having people around me with a completely different background from mine, both in and out from the workplace!
After my PhD defense, an opportunity opened for me and I moved, without knowing much about it, to Finland to continue my academic work as a postdoctoral researcher. Needless to say, I was positively surprised by Finland and the Finnish environment.
During my time at Tampere University, I started working in field of printed electronics, to improve performance of wearable devices thanks to my experience in mechanical modeling and characterization of materials; thanks to colleagues and supervisors, I met many people taking part in the flourishing Finnish environment in the field. At that time, I also discovered TactoTek and was fascinated by their idea of fully integrating electronics into injection-molded structures: soon I started following their webinars to get to know more about that. Not so long after, TactoTek started actually looking for a person with my background: that was my opportunity! As I was already familiar with the company and the needed background was very similar to mine, I felt I needed to apply for the position.
I really enjoy travelling to new places, and in my free time I like to challenge myself into preparing (and trying out!) food from different countries. I am a great fan of scientific fiction and of sci-fi in all its forms, such as literature, movies, art and videogames, and in particular of all those -punk subgenres (such as cyberpunk, solarpunk, and the many other ones). Working with IMSE, in a way, brings me closer to those kinds of amazing sceneries.
Here at TactoTek, my typical day is difficult to describe: in fact, I thrive in environments where I can quickly change my topic, and my colleagues support me in this way of working. Both my job and the general mindset of the company are very oriented towards collaboration with others, which allows me to support colleagues and do various tasks, while learning more about the many unknowns of the IMSE process in the meantime. In this way, there are days spent developing FE models, other ones where I meet with colleagues and try to brainstorm ideas to solve unexpected challenges and other ones where I focus on ways to improve existing processes and characterization methods. No day is the same!
