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The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shown that UV-based sterilization methods, alternative to conventional chemical techniques, are needed to inactivate viruses in large environments, like classrooms, planes, and hospitals. Conventional UV-emitters (mercury tubes) cannot be widely adopted, due to their large size, low efficiency, short lifetimes, and complex disposal procedures due to Hg content. The goal of this project is to substantially contribute to the development of high-efficiency UV LED emitters, and to investigate the use of UV LEDs for virus inactivation. For the first time, will use a bottom-up approach, from semiconductor fabrication/research, to device modeling, to illuminator design, to testing in the field.