She received the Electronics Engineering degree from Parma University, Italy in 1996 and the PhD in Microelectronics from Grenoble's National Polytechnics Institute in 1999. She was accredited as a PhD research supervisor by Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble in 2007. Subsequently, she attended MIT Sloan Executive Education management courses in Boston.
Barbara joined Leti as a research scientist in 1999 where she led several Leti/IC manufacturers R&D projects. Her know-how has been transferred directly or through invited workshops to many companies including Freescale, NXP, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, ALTIS, Micron and Samsung.
She coordinated the European ADAMANT project on advanced discrete trap-based memories from 2002 to 2004. She managed the Leti's Advanced Memory Technology Laboratory from 2008 to 2013 and the Innovative Device Laboratory from 2012 to 2013. She headed developments of new NV memory concepts, novel CMOS and 3D architectures, and low-power devices for neuromorphic circuits.
From 2013 to 2015, she managed the Leti on-site team at IBM-Albany in the US. This involved development of sub-10nm CMOS devices within an international alliance framework.
Barbara has authored more than 290 referred articles and 7 book chapters, as well as a Wiley & Sons book on silicon non-volatile memories. She has given several short-courses and invited talks at international conferences and universities.
She is, or has been, a reviewer for international peer-reviews and a member of scientific committees for several international conferences (as IEDM, IMW, ESSDERC and NVMTS). She has been in the IEDM Executive Committee since 2015 and was appointed IEEE Senior Member in the same year. She holds several patents and has supervised more than 25 Master and PhD students.