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We are pleased to announce that Luigi De Gennaro, Professor in the Department of Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome and Director of the Sleep Psychophysiology Laboratory, has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) in recognition of his sustained contributions to the science of sleep–wake regulation and levels of consciousness.
Over many years, Professor De Gennaro has developed an internationally influential research program centered on canonical EEG elements of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. His comprehensive review in Sleep Medicine Reviews systematically mapped the generation mechanisms and functional roles of sleep spindles, establishing a thalamo–cortical framework for understanding spindle activity. In NeuroImage (2005), he introduced the concept of an individual “fingerprint” of the sleep EEG, demonstrating stable inter-individual differences in NREM power topography and providing a reliable phenotype for longitudinal tracking of consciousness levels and cognitive traits. Through studies of K-complexes in stage-2 sleep—and subsequent work in Alzheimer’s disease cohorts—he further showed the value of K-complexes as indices of sleep stability, synchronization, and pathological change. These achievements have refined the physiological understanding of how conscious states are regulated during sleep and supplied reusable signal-based markers for clinical applications and computational modeling.
- Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem
Academicians of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness hail from institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of California, the French Academy of Sciences, the University of Padua, the University of Queensland, Columbia University, and the University of Exeter. Honorary Academicians come from a wide range of countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and China. In addition, leading scientists from prominent research institutes and technology companies—such as Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and ZEEKR—also participate.
- About WAAC
The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.