Dr Rudolf studied Physics at the University 'La Sapienza' of Rome, Italy, specializing in Solid State Physics. In 1987 she joined the National Surface Science laboratory in Trieste for 5 years, interrupted by 2 extended periods at Bell Labs, USA, where she worked on the newly discovered fullerenes. In 1993 she moved to the University of Namur, Belgium, where she received her PhD and quickly progressed to lecturer and senior lecturer before taking up the Chair in Experimental Solid State Physics at the University in Groningen, The Netherlands, in 2003 and become head of the "Surfaces and Thin Films" group of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials. 2014-2018 she was also the director of the Graduate School of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen. Currently she is Dean of Graduate Studies for the University of Groningen. Her main research interests concern molecular motors and switches, graphene and other 2D solids, organic thin films and inorganic-organic hybrids. She has published >300 articles and given >200 invited talks at (inter)national conferences and research institutions worldwide. Prof. Rudolf advised 23 postdoctoral researchers; 35 PhD students completed their dissertation under her guidance so far, 10 PhD students are currently supervised by her. She also guided 25 BSc and 43 MSc students.
She was the President of the European Physical Society (2019-21) and of the Belgian Physical Society (2000-01). Dr Rudolf was elected Fellow of the U.K. Institute of Physics (2001), Fellow of the American Physical Society (2010),  Member of Merit of the Dutch Physical Society (2006) and of the Italian Physical Society (2018) and member of the Academia Europaea (2021), the German Academy of Science and Engineering (2016) as well as foreign corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna (2020). Her work on molecular motors earned the 2007 Descartes Prize of the European Commission. In 2013 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau by H.M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.