Bio
Dr. Peter L. Bishay is a mechanical engineering professor at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and the director of the “Design SMART” Laboratory (Design of Smart Mechanical and Reconfigurable Technologies). He received his PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), in 2014. He has published over 50 research papers in reputable journals and conference proceedings spanning topics in aerospace structures, prosthesis design and control, composite and smart structures, computational mechanics, and engineering education. His research has been supported by the NSF, DoD, and NASA. Dr. Bishay is a recipient of multiple prestigious awards, such as the “Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award” (2017), the “Future Technology Leader Award” (2018), the “Distinguished Engineering Educator Achievement Award” (2022) from The Engineer's Council, the “Highly Influential and Sustained Innovation Award” (2021), and the “CSUN Distinguished Teaching Award” (2024) from CSUN. He was named the 2025 Jerome Richfield Memorial Fellow.

Bio
Dr. Peter L. Bishay is a mechanical engineering professor at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and the director of the “Design SMART” Laboratory (Design of Smart Mechanical and Reconfigurable Technologies). He received his PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), in 2014. He has published over 50 research papers in reputable journals and conference proceedings spanning topics in aerospace structures, prosthesis design and control, composite and smart structures, computational mechanics, and engineering education. His research has been supported by the NSF, DoD, and NASA. Dr. Bishay is a recipient of multiple prestigious awards, such as the “Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award” (2017), the “Future Technology Leader Award” (2018), the “Distinguished Engineering Educator Achievement Award” (2022) from The Engineer's Council, the “Highly Influential and Sustained Innovation Award” (2021), and the “CSUN Distinguished Teaching Award” (2024) from CSUN. He was named the 2025 Jerome Richfield Memorial Fellow.

Bio
Dr. Mojtaba Ahmadieh Khanesar (PhD, MIET’20, SMIEEE’16, MASME’23) is a research fellow in optical metrology with machine learning in the Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nottingham, UK. With extensive international experience in Denmark, Turkey, Iran, and the UK, his research spans metrology, robotics, control systems, and machine learning. He earned his PhD in Control Engineering from K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He has contributed significantly to EPSRC-funded projects, including Robodome, HARISOM, and Chattyfactories, and has supervised two PhD and undergraduate students while working at the University of Nottingham. His current project is Robodome, working on a multi-illumination system for precise aerospace measurements. He serves as an Associate Editor for Human-Centric Intelligent Systems, Complex and Intelligent Systems, and Energies, and contributes to Special Issues on robust control and electromechanical systems. He has published 2 books and 110 papers that have been cited 2,400 times, and holds an h-index of 27, reflecting his significant impact in the field. He has received multiple honors, including the Collaborate to Innovate Award, top student awards, and top paper recognitions in IEEE and Robotics journals, and he maintains active memberships in IEEE, ASME, IET, and BCS, demonstrating leadership and influence in the engineering and computational intelligence communities worldwide.

Bio
Dr. Lavinia Buta graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She obtained her PhD through a joint collaboration with the LHFA at Université de Toulouse, France, which is recognized as one of the leading laboratories in the chemistry of heteroelements at both national and international levels. With a degree in engineering, she works on engineering-related journals within MDPI, where she currently serves as a Deputy Managing Editor, with her responsibilities including representing MDPI, its journals, and its services at various online and in-person academic events worldwide.