UW scientist gets ‘knighted’ by her native Italy

Gelsomina De Stasio, a UW–Madison physics professor, is known by friends and colleagues by her nickname, “Pupa.”

As of this month, better make that “Sir Pupa.”

De Stasio, a native of Rome, was bestowed with the honor “Cavaliere della Repubblica,” or Official Knight of the Italian Republic, during a special ceremony June 1 at the Italian Consulate General in Chicago. She was honored along with University of Chicago oncologist Michele Carbone.

The honorees are chosen each year by the president of Italy to recognize some of the country’s most accomplished native sons and daughters around the world. De Stasio is a microscopy expert who is developing new strategies for fighting cancer.

De Stasio, who joined UW–Madison in 1999 through its strategic hiring program, admits being a little bemused by the honor. De Stasio says she was notified by telegram last summer by Italy’s President Ciampi. Knighthood apparently isn’t gender-neutral: she says her official certificate actually does refer to her as “Sir.”

With a research project at the Synchrotron Radiation Center in Stoughton, De Stasio is developing a cancer-treatment technique called gadolinium neutron capture therapy, which she likens to creating a microscopic explosion inside each cancer cell. The work could offer new hope for a type of inoperable brain cancer.

Jokes De Stasio: “You could call me the Knight of the Periodic Table.'”