Hariklia “Lili” Deligianni, Ph.D.

Founder, Sense4me, Inc.
Former Research Scientist
IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center

167 U.S. Patents

Dr. Hariklia “Lili” Deligianni is the founder of Sense4me, Inc., a start-up company in digital health with the vision to empower individuals with addiction issues to manage their condition successfully. In 2018, Dr. Deligianni retired from IBM following a distinguished career spanning three decades at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center. She also currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Electrochemical Energy Center.

Dr. Deligianni’s pioneering research has had widespread impact across disciplines and industries. Most recently, her work is aimed at developing novel products such as a DNA sequencing electrochemical device; and a toolbox of nanomaterials and nanodevices for brain and peripheral neural stimulation, recordings, and neurochemistry measurements; as well as innovations in wearables, biosensors, bioelectronics, neural interfaces, and artificial intelligence, with applications in neural and mental health.

While at IBM, Dr. Deligianni played a leading role in the successful introduction of electrochemical technology in semiconductor chips, including the co-invention of the copper electrodeposition process for on-chip interconnects, which revolutionized the performance of computer chips and led to world-wide commercialization of electronic components for the semiconductor and telecommunications industries. Dr. Deligianni has also made significant contributions to renewable energy with the development and scale-up of thin film solar cells.

Dr. Deligianni is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2004, she was part of the IBM team honored with the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation for their groundbreaking technologies. Additionally, she is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and was the first female recipient of the Vittorio de Nora Award of the Electrochemical Society. She was also recognized with the E.V. Murphree award of the American Chemical Society. She is also a senior member of IEEE and AIChE, and a member of ACS and AAAS. Dr. Deligianni’s innovations have been recognized by Inventor of the Year Award of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association, and she has received multiple IBM Corporate Awards. Dr. Deligianni received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.