Prof. Vaseashta received a PhD from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA in 1990. He currently serves as Vice Provost for Research at Claflin University and Strategic Advisor/Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sciences Convergence and International Clean Water Institute at Norwich University Applied Research Institutes. Previously, he served as a Professor of Physics and Physical Sciences and Director of Research at the Nanomaterials Processing and Characterization Laboratories, Graduate Program in Physical Sciences at Marshall University. Concurrently, he holds a visiting/distinguished Professorship at the 3 Nano-SAE Research Centre, University of Bucharest, Romania; Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova; and at the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center of Nanoscale Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. In 2007-08, he was detailed as a William C. Foster fellow to the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation at the US Department of State working with the Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism and Foreign Consequence Management program. He also served (2009-13) as Franklin Fellow and strategic S&T advisor in the office of Verification and Transparency Technologies/Arms Verification and Control in the Bureau of Arms Control Verification and Compliance, Office of Verification and Transparency Technologies at the US Department of State. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, Institute of Nanotechnology, and New York Academy of Sciences. He was awarded Gold medal by the Armenian National Polytechnic University (formerly State Engineering University of Armenia) for his contribution to Nanotechnology. In addition, he has earned several other fellowships and awards for his meritorious service including 2004/2005 Distinguished Artist and Scholar award. His research interests include; counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, critical-Infrastarture protection, biosecurity, advanced and nano materials for development of chemical-bio sensors/detectors, environmental pollution monitoring/detecting and remediation, and green nanotechnology. He authored over 200 research publications, edited/authored six books on nanotechnology, presented many keynote and invited lectures worldwide, served as the Director of four NATO Advanced Study Institutes/Advanced Research workshops supported by Emerging Security Challenges Division of the Science for Peace and Security, and co-chair of an International Symposium on Nanotechnology and Environmental Pollution Prevention (ISNEPP). He led the U.S. position on Nanotechnology in High Technology Coordination Group to joint US and India delegation. In addition, he served as a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST, and ANSI delegation to the U.K. representing the U.S. position on Standards in Nanotechnologies at the inaugural meeting of the ISO/TAG to TC-229. He is a member of NATO-SET-040, an exploratory team panel investigating security and surveillance applications of nanotechnology. He serves as an expert counsel to the UNESCO, ObservatoryNANO, and COSENT – south-east consortium on Nanotechnologies on NANO-Science and Technologies. He is an active member of several national and international professional organizations.

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Professor Ali Eftekhari is the President of the American Nano Society. He has established Department of Electrochemistry at MERC and School of Materials Science & Engineering at Jimma University from scratch. He has authored about 100 papers in high impact scholarly journals. He has supervised over 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Nanomaterials, Electrochemistry, Energy Storage/Conversion

Anand Gadre graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics from the University of Mumbai (India) in 1994. He received the MS Degree at the Institute of Science in 1997 and completed his doctorate (Ph.D.) in 2000 from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai in Polymer Physics. In 2001 Anand joined University of Maryland (USA) as a Postdoctoral Research Associate to pursue research in the areas of Micro and Nanotechnology. In 2002 Anand worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Georgetown University at Washington DC and later worked as a Managing Scientist in Georgetown’s Nanoscience and Microtechnology laboratory (GNuLab). In 2004 Anand was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Nanobioscience at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in the State University of New York at Albany and later was promoted as an Associate Professor of Nanobioscience with tenure. While working at CNSE, Anand also achieved his Master in Business Management (MBA) degree from the State University of New York at Albany. In March 2011 Anand joined as the Director of the Stem Cell Instrumentation and Nanofabrication Foundry at the University of California, Merced, where he is currently administering core research facilities and pursuing his research in the areas of Nanobiotechnology. Anand is an active researcher and has published several peer reviewed papers, co-authored book chapters, served as a referee for several national and international journals, served as chair and invited speaker in several national and international conferences, has delivered lectures and taught advanced courses on polymeric materials and nanobiotechnology at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition, Anand is a trained percussionist; has a Bachelor degree in Music and actively participates in musical concerts as well as teaches percussion instruments.

• Nanomaterials and Nanofabrication • Therapeutics and Medical Device Design • Biosensors, Bioimaging and Nanobioelectronics • Microfluidics and Lab-On-a-Chip Systems • Polymer Based Nanostructured Biomaterials • BioMEMS/BioNEMS, Nanomanufacturing • Scaffolding and Drug Delivery Systems • Stem Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering

Dr. V. Ramgopal Raois a P.K.KelkarChair Professor for Nanotechnology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Chief Investigator for the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics project at IIT Bombay. Dr. Rao has over 350 publications in the area of Electron Devices &Nanoelectronics in refereed international journals and conference proceedings and is an inventor on 30 patents (including 13 issued US patents) and patent applications, with many of his patents licensed to industries for commercialization. He is also a co-founder of the company NanoSniff Technologies Pvt. Ltd. at IIT Bombay which is developing products in the area of Nanotechnology. Prof. Rao has supervised/co-supervised over 100 Masters students&30 Ph.D. students at IIT Bombay in the area of Nanoelectronics since the year 2000. Prof. Rao’s work is recognized with many awards and honors in the country and abroad. Some of the notable recognitions he received include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences in 2005 and the Infosys Prize in 2013. Dr. Rao is also a recipient of the Swarnajayanti Fellowship award from the Department of Science & Technology, IBM Faculty award, Best Research award from the Intel Asia Academic Forum, Techno-Mentor award from the Indian Semiconductor Association, DAE-SRC Outstanding Research Investigator award and the Excellence in Research Award from IIT Bombay. Prof. Rao was an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices during 2003-2012 for the CMOS Devices and Technology area and currently serves on the Editorial boards of various other international journals. Dr. Rao is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, and the National Academy of Sciences. He is a Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Electron Devices Society and interacts closely with many semiconductor industries including Intel, IBM, Infineon, Applied Materials, Maxim and Texas Instruments.

Nanoelectronics Technology Aware Design Challenges with Emerging Technologies (Process-Device-Circuit Interactions with Multigate MOSFETs, Polymer Transistors, Molecular Electronics etc.) CMOS Reliability Bio-MEMS

Dr. Murugan Ramalingam is Professor at the Centre for Stem Cell Research (a unit of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine-Bengaluru), Christian Medical College Campus, India. Concurrently he is Adjunct Professor at the Tohoku University, Japan. Prior to joining the CSCR, he was Associate Professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, Université de Strasbourg, France. He has worked at the WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Japan, as an Assistant Professor. He has also worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the U.S. National Academies Associateship program. He received his Ph.D. in Biomaterials from the University of Madras. He has also undergone training in Ethical and Policy issues on Stem Cells from Harvard University, USA, and in Operations Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago. His current research interests are focused on the development of multiphase biomedical materials, through conventional to nanotechnology to biomimetic approaches, microfabrication, cell patterning, stem cell differentiation, tissue engineering and drug delivery. He is the author of over 190 publications, including peer-reviewed journal papers, conference proceedings, book chapters, authored books, edited books, and patents relevant to biomaterials, stem cells, and tissue engineering. His current h-index is 23 with over 4250 citations. He has organized several international conferences and chaired Biomaterials, Nanobiotechnology, Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering sessions. He also serves as a board member of several international scientific and research committees in various public and private bodies and grant reviewer of various international funding agencies. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple biomaterials and tissue engineering-related journals, including as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, the Journal of Bionanoscience and the American Journal of Stem Cell Research. He is a recipient of several prestigious fellowships and awards, including CSIR Fellowship (India), SMF Fellowship (Singapore), NRC National Academies Fellowship (USA), Nationale Professeur des Universités (France), Fellow of Institute of Nanotechnology (UK) and Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).

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Dr. Dongsheng Mao is currently the Vice President of Engineering for Applied Nanotech, Inc. and is highly experienced in nano-enabled product R&D and commercialization. He is also the Director of the Nanocomposite and Printed Electronics Divison at the company. He has successfully managed a number of R&D projects. Dr. Mao has over 50 publications and an inventor of co-inventor of over 40 granted US and PCT patents with more than 40 patents pending.

His research interests are composites, fiber reinforced composites, nanocomposites, nanomaterials, electric materials and devices, metallic inks and pastes, thin films, solar energy, etc.

Dr. Qingshan Mu has been working in the field of nanotechnology for more than 9 years. In addition, Dr. Mu’s research background is multidisciplinary, ranging from nanoparticles, drug delivery to polymer sciences, etc. Currently, Dr. Mu is working in the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA.

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Dr Shashi Paul is working in the Emerging Technologies Research Centre (EMTERC), De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom, as a reader in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and head of EMTERC (http://www.dmu.ac.uk/emterc) . He graduated from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and previously worked at Cambridge University, Durham University and Rutgers University. He has extensive experience in the field of deposition of nano-sized organic and inorganic materials in the context of their applications to electronic memory devices, thin film transistors, biological & chemical sensors and photovoltaic solar cells. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers in journals and proceedings of international repute, 12. invited and 2 keynote talks presented at international conferences, 3 international conference organisation, conference scientific committee memberships, guest editorship of Phil. Trans. of the Royal Society A, vol. 367 (2009). He is currently serving as a member of editorial advisory board for flexible electronics, Member of international programme committee for the Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality (ICREPQ) of the European Association for the Development of Renewable Energies, Environment and Power Quality (EA4EPQ) and associate member of SUPERGEN SuperSolar Project at Loughborough University, UK. He has led a number of research projects related emerging electronic memory devices, next generation photovoltaic solar cells and production of nano-materials. In his free time, he enjoys micro-farming and reading literary contribution by Kafka, Camus, Tagore, Munshi Prem Chand, R.K Narayan, Eminescu, Gorky, Shelley and Lord Byron. And, needless to say he likes cricket!

• Organic and Inorganic Materials for Plastic Electronics • Energy Storage (Electrical and Heat) • Emerging Electronic Memory Devices • New Growth Processes/Methods for Nano-materials • Electrical Energy Generation - Photovoltaic Solar Cells (organic and inorganic) • Nanomaterials with Anti-bacterial properties and applications in Environment Cleaning

Dr. Bharat Bhushan is an Ohio Eminent Scholar and The Howard D. Winbigler Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, a Graduate Research Faculty Advisor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, and the Director of the Nanotribology Laboratory for Information Storage & MEMS/NEMS (NLIM) at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. B.E. 1970, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India; MS 1971, Massachusetts Institute of Techology, Cambridge; MS 1973, University of Colorado, Boulder; PhD 1976, University of Colorado, Boulder Dr. Bhushan holds two M.S., a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering/mechanics, an MBA, and three semi-honorary and honorary doctorates. He received his Doctor Honouris Causa from Metal-Polymer Research Institute of National Acad. of Sci., Gomel, Belarus in 2000; and Doctor of Technical Sciences Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland in 1996. He has organized various international conferences and workshops. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and international fellowships. He is a member of various professional societies, including the International Academy of Engineering (Russia).

Fundamental studies in the interdisciplinary areas of bio/nanotribology/nanomechanics and nanomaterials characterization in bio/nanotechnology and biomimetics with a focus on scanning probe techniques.

Hari Shanker Sharma, Director of Research (International Experimental Central Nervous System Injury & Repair, IECNSIR), University Hospital, Uppsala University is Professor of Neurobiology (MRC), Docent in Neuroanatomy (UU) and is currently affiliated with Department of Surgical Sciences, Division of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Uppsala University, Sweden. Hari Sharma obtained Doctoral Degree in Neurosciences from Banaras Hindu University in May 1982 on “Blood-Brain Barrier in Stress.” Dr. Sharma received German Govt. Prestigious Fellowship Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (1989-1991) to work on hyperthermia induced BBB dysfunction at the ultrastructural level with Professor Jorge Cervós-Navarro (a living “Legend in Neuropathology in Europe”) in Free University Berlin. On his work on hyperthermia Dr. Sharma received the prestigious Neuroanatomy award “Rönnows Research prize” of Uppsala University for “best neuroanatomical research of the year 1996” followed by the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences (Dr Med Sci) of Uppsala University in Neuroanatomy in 1999 and selected for the Best Thesis Award of the Medical faculty, “The Hwassers Prize” of 1999. Dr. Sharma on his research on brain pathology and neuroprotection in different models received the prestigious awards from The Laerdal Foundation of Acute Medicine, Stavanger, Norway, in 2005 followed by Distinguished International Scientists Collaboration Award by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Baltimore, MD (2006-2008). His recent works on the role of nanoparticles in Neurodegeneration and Neuroprotection using various treatment strategies is supported by European Aerospace Research and Development (EOARD), London, UK and US Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Oh, USA. He is awarded Coveted American Neurosurgeon Dr. Anthony Marmarou Award (2011) by the International Brain Edema Society at their 15th Congress in Tokyo, Japan, November 20-24, 2011 for his works over 30 years on the blood-brain barrier and brain edema. His works on Nanoneuroscience and development of nanomedicine to treat the CNS injuries was recognized by Govt. of India with “Hind Rattan Award 2012” (Jewel of India) on the eve of 63rd Republic Day of India 25th January 2012 and Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Gold Medal on October 12, 2012 in House of Lords, London, UK followed by Prestigious Gujarat Govt. Award “International Visionary Award 2012” in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Nov 23, 2012. His research on co-morbidity factors e.g., hypertension or diabetes is recognized by Govt. of India’s “Bharat Jyoti Award 2013” (Glory of India), New Delhi on Jan 12, 2013. Dr Sharma also received the highest Award of the Govt. of India “Navrattan Award 2013” (Nine Jewels of India) on the eve of 64th Republic Day of India (25th January 2013) and Sword of Honor on the eve of 66th Republic day of India Jan 25th, 2015. Hari Sharma is Founding President of the Global College of Neuroprotection & Neuroregeneration (2004-); Elected President of International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR) (2014-); and selected Senior Expert of Asia-Pacific CEO Association, Worldwide (APCEO) (2012-) for his contribution to uplift scientific research in many countries Globally for the benefit of mankind. Hari Sharma organized and chaired Nanosymposium for Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in Chicago (2009), San Diego (2010), Washington DC (2011), New Orleans (2012), San Diego (2013) and Washington DC (2014). On his works on “Nanowired cerebrolysin in Neuropathic Pain” Hari Sharma is awarded the Prestigious US TechConnect Global Innovation Award 2013 at the National Innovation Summit & Innovation Showcase, Washington DC May 12-16, 2013. Hari Sharma is designated Poster Judge in Annual Meetings of American Association fo Advancement of Science (AAAS) Baltimore, MD (1996); Chicago IL (2014) and San Jose CA, (2015). Hari Sharma is invited member of New York Academy of Science, USA (since 1994-); International Academy of Stress, New York (2003-), and Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2010-). He served as an expert evaluator and advisor to various Boards, Councils and Institutions for their Research Grants including Wellcome Trust, London, UK (2011-); Catalan Agency for Health Information and Quality, TV3 (2010-), European Commission Projects (2002-), European Nanomed Council (2009-), Israel Foundation of Science (IFS 2004-); Ministry of Health Science Foundation; Medical research Council and University Commission of Grants in various countries in Europe, USA, UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and in Australia. Some of the notable organizations include: Australia and New Zealand Health Council (2000-); University Commission of Grants, Hong Kong (2002-), Singapore Medical Council, Singapore (2003-); UK Charity Organization “Research on Ageing: Help the Aged” (2003-); Euro Nanomed (2010-). Dr. Sharma is designated as ambassador of the City of Uppsala 2007, by Uppsala County administration and Uppsala Tourism for promoting Uppsala, Sweden as International Research Collaboration/Meetings and Conference Destination. Dr. Hari Sharma is married to Aruna Sharma (nee Bajpai) since 23rd April 1979 and has two sons. His political affiliations belong to Swedish Social Democrat Party (Socialdemokraterna, Sverige) where he is associated with the development of Education and Research matters in Sweden actively

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Dr S. Joseph Antony is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Particle Science and Engineering, School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, U.K. He started his research career as an experimentalist in the area of photonic stress analysis and strength measurement of continuum bodies. However, over the past twenty years, his research focus is on the nano and micro mechanical modelling of particles and their assemblies with particular emphasis on developing structure-property relations. Joseph has published over 100 papers in several reputed international journals and conference proceedings. He actively participates in the activities of particle technology community in U.K and abroad. He holds membership in several international professional bodies and serves in technical committees in his area of research. Currently, he serves as a member of peer reviewers in his area of research for several international journals. He is the lead editor of the book on Advances in Granular Materials: Fundamentals and Applications, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, London (2004). He has won many awards, including the prestigious M.I.T Young Research Fellowship for Exemplary Research in Computational Mechanics and the Certificate of Merit as an Example of Outstanding Achievements in U.K Particle Science and Technology in 2002, PTSG, IChemE, U.K. He has served as a guest editor for the Jl. Granular Matter and the lead editor of the book ‘Granular Materials: Fundamentals and Applications’, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, London in 2004. Presently Joseph serves as an editorial board member of the journal of Research Letters in Nanotechnology and editorial review board member of Scientific Journals International. His research sponsors include EPSRC, Royal Society, DTI, ICI, BNFL, P&G, Pfizer, Borax Hosakawa Micron, Bridon International Ltd, Merck Sharp & Dohme and DuPont (U.K). More details on his research activities can be found in http://www.leeds.ac.uk/speme/antony/CV-SJA.pdf.

.Nano, micro and macroscopic properties of powders and grains •Measuring single-particle data and modelling macroscopic behaviour of particulate assemblies. Effect of inter-particle friction, stiffness, cohesion, adhesion, particle size and shape, and short-range and long-range forces etc. on assembly properties. •Force transmission patterns in particulate materials subjected to mechanical, electrical and combined loading conditions. •Strength of nano particulate composites, Self assembly and disassembly behaviour of mineral particulates. • Aging effects in materials and bio-inspired nano technology. •Developing engineering products from throwaway wastes

Masayoshi Tonouchi received the B.S. and M.S. and Dr. E. degrees form Osaka University, Japan, in 1983, 1985 and 1988, respectively. From 1988 to 1989 he worked at the Faculty of Engineering Science of the same university. From 1989 to 1994 he joined the Faculty of Computer Science and System Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan. In 1994, he moved to Kansai Advanced Research Center, Communications Research Laboratory, Japan. From 1996 to 2000, he was an associate professor at the Research Center for Superconducting Materials and Electronics, Osaka University. Currently he is a professor in Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University and a concurrent professor of Nanjing University. His current research interests include ultrafast optical and terahertz science of strongly correlated electron systems and nanomaterials, and development-and-applications of terahertz systems such as the laser terahertz emission microscope, compact THz time-domain spectroscopy systems, and others. He is a member of the Optical Society of America, Materials Research Society, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Physical Society of Japan, and the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers. He is an associate editor for Journal of Applied Physics, AIP since Jan.1st, 2015. He chaired many international conferences such as OTST 2013.

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Professor Somasundaran received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and his Bachelor of Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in 1961. Before joining Columbia University, he worked for the International Minerals and Chemical Corporation and Reynolds Industries. He was appointed the first La von Duddleson Krumb Professor in the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the first Director of the Langmuir Center for Colloids & Interfaces and founding director of the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Center for Advanced Studies in Novel Surfactants. He was also elected Chairman of the Henry Krumb School at Columbia University, as Chair of Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Material Science & Mineral Engineering in 1992 and 1995. He was inducted in l985 into the National Academy of Engineering, among the highest professional distinction that can be conferred to an engineer and later to the Chinese, Indian and Russian National Academies. He is the recipient of the Antoine M. Gaudin Award (1982), the Robert H. Richards Award (l987), the Arthur F. Taggart Award for best paper (1987) of AIME, "Most Distinguished Achievement in Engineering" award from AINA among others. In addition, he was awarded the "Ellis Island Medal of Honor" in 1990, along with such recipients as President George Bush, four former Presidents, U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Danny Thomas, the Leadership citation from the New Jersey Senate in 1991 and the Engineering Foundation's 1992 Frank F. Aplan Award. He has been honored in many countries. He was appointed as an Honorary Professor at the Central University of Technology of China, 1988-1993, and an Honorary Research Advisor at the Beijing Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Beijing, China, in 1991 and a Plenary Lecturer at many International conferences. He is the author/editor of fifteen books and of over 700 scientific publications and patents. He is the honorary editor-in-chief of the international journal "Colloids and Surfaces". He has served on many international, national and professional committees and National Research Council and University external panels and National Science Foundation Advisory Committees. He was the Chairman of the Board of the Engineering Foundation (1993-95) and currently on the board of the new United Engineering Foundation. He currently serves on the Piermont Board of Appeals and previously in the Planning board.. His research interests are surface and colloid chemistry of minerals, materials and microbes, molecular interactions at surfaces using advanced spectroscopy, polymer and surfactant adsorption, flocculation/dispersion, biosurface phenomena, environmental engineering (waste treatment), enhanced recovery of oil and coal cleaning.

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Dr. Md. K. Nazeeruddin received M.Sc. and Ph. D. in inorganic chemistry from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He joined as a Lecturer in Deccan College of Engineering and Technology, Osmania University in 1986, and subsequently, moved to Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, as a Research Associate. He was awarded the Government of India’s fellowship in 1987 for study abroad. After one year postdoctoral stay with Prof. Graetzel at Swiss federal institute of technology Lausanne (E P F L), he joined the same institute as a Senior Scientist. His current research focuses on Dye-sensitized solar cells, Hydrogen production, Light-emitting diodes and Chemical sensors. He has published more than 420 peer-reviewed papers, ten book chapters, and inventor of 40 patents. The high impact of his work has been recognized with invitations to speak at over 80 international conferences, including the MRS Fall (USA, 2006) and Spring 2011 Meetings, GORDON conference (2014), and has been nominated to the OLLA International Scientific Advisory Board. He appeared in the ISI listing of most cited chemists, and has more than 33'500 citations with an h-index of 93. He is teaching "Functional Materials" course at EPFL, and Korea University; directing, and managing several industrial, national, and European Union projects on Hydrogen energy, Photovoltaics (DSC), and Organic Light Emitting Diodes. He was awarded EPFL Excellence prize in 1998 and 2006, Brazilian FAPESP Fellowship in 1999, Japanese Government Science & Technology Agency Fellowship, in 1998, Government of India National Fellowship in 1987-1988. Recently he has been appointed as World Class University (WCU) professor by the Korea University, Jochiwon, Korea (http://dses.korea.ac.kr/eng/sub01_06_2.htm) and Adjunct Professor by the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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Dr Zhou is presently a Professor, Associate Vice President of Global Medical Development, Associate Dean of International Research, and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy & Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33612. Professor Zhou completed his clinical medical training in China in 1989 and obtained his PhD in 2001 from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. He continued his postdoctoral training at the University of Auckland until November 2002. Since 2002, Dr Zhou has served as a faculty member for the National University of Singapore, Queensland University of Technology (Australia), RMIT University (Australia), and now University of South Florida. Dr Zhou’s major research interests are drug discovery/systems pharmacology, drug metabolism/drug transport & pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenomics/pharmacogenetics, nanomedicine and Chinese medicine. Professor Zhou has published more than 330 peer-reviewed papers in various pharmacology and medical journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Cancer Research, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Carcinogenesis, JPET, Drug Metabolism & Disposition, and Clinical Cancer Research. He has also published 16 books and book chapters and more than 310 conference abstracts. His work has been cited more than 8,600 times by other colleagues with a H-index of 46. He has received more than US$22.0 million grants from various funding bodies and industries. To date, he has trained 24 PhD students, 12 MSc/Honors students, 14 postdoctoral fellows and 25 visiting faculty. Dr Zhou serves as an editor-in-chief or editor for 16 journals including Drug, Healthcare and Patient Safety, Drug Metabolism Letters, and Current Drug Metabolism and is the editorial board member of more than 50 medical and pharmacological journals. Dr Zhou has given more than 100 invited seminars/keynote presentations to a variety of academic institutes, government agencies, and high-profile international conferences. He is a recipient of several teaching and research awards, a member of numerous national and international professional societies, and a visiting professor of many reputable research universities.

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Prof. Dr. Mohamed Khayet Souhaimi is an expert on membrane science and technology (membrane design and fabrication, membrane processes including nanofiltration, emerging technologies) and water treatment (desalination, wastewater treatment, etc.). He has contributed a substantial number of articles (over 100 papers since 2000) on the subject of membrane science and technology to various international refereed journals, including among others, Journal of Membrane Science and Desalination (with an H-index 27 and 2223 Sum of Times Cited in Journal of Citation Reports, JCR, Web of Knowledge). He has filed 3 International Patents on the fabrication of polymeric membranes for water treatment. Recently, he has published 2 books: “Membrane Distillation: Principles and Applications", Elsevier (2011)” and “Membrane Modification: Technology and Applications", CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group (2012) with special interests in developing antifouling nanofiltration membranes and reduction of membrane fouling by polymer surface modification. He has coordinated various national and international projects funded by different institutions (European Union, Spanish Ministry of External Affaires, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC), Abengoa Water, etc.). He has supervised several research studies (9 Ph.D. thesis, 25 master thesis and undergraduate students). He has also supervised various research studies of visiting professors and researchers from different institutions. He is currently member of the European Desalination Society (EDS), the European Membrane Society (EMS) and the North American Membrane Society (NAMS). He has delivered over 40 oral presentations at national and international conferences on membranes and membrane processes and presented 30 posters. He gave various seminars in national and international Universities and Research centres and organized seminar cycles. He is actually member of the editorial board of the Journals: “Desalination”, “Applied Membrane Science & Technology”, “Membrane Water Treatment (MWT)”, “Membranes”, “Polymers”, “Applied Sciences” and "Journal of Materials Science and Nanotechnology". He has recently received the prestigious “Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water” (PSIPW, 5th edition, 2012) on Alternative Water Resources (Saudi Arabia) for his novel and creative work in membrane distillation (MD) technology that he has studied and promoted in all its theoretical and experimental aspects (from membrane synthesis to implementation).

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Dr Teng is an Associate Professor and leads the Nanoelectronics Research Group at the College of Engineering in Swansea University. His research interest is in the study of nanoscale electronic materials and devices. This involves the application of nanotechnology in electronics, which has major impact in healthcare, computer, photonic and energy technologies. His research includes the investigation of low-dimensional electronic materials, such as graphene, metal-oxide and nitride nanostructures etc., in the development of ultra-sensitive nano-biosensors for the early detection of diseases, short-wavelength lasers for ultra-high density data storage and nano-plasmonics for photovoltaic technology etc. Dr Teng has the expertise in the fabrication and characterisation of nanoscale electronic materials and devices, as well as controlling their properties through surface engineering for novel applications.

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Ramesh K. Agarwal is the William Palm Professor of Engineering and the director of Aerospace Research and Education Center at Washington University in St. Louis. From 1994 to 2001, he was the Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Professor and Executive Director of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University in Kansas. From 1978 to 1994, he worked in various scientific and managerial positions at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories in St. Louis. He became the Program Director and McDonnell Douglas Fellow in 1990. Dr. Agarwal received Ph.D. in Aeronautical Sciences from Stanford University in 1975, M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1969 and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India in 1968. Over a period of 35+ years, Professor Agarwal has worked in various areas of Computational Science and Engineering - Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Computational Materials Science, Computational Electromagnetics (CEM), and Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization. He is the author and coauthor of over 400 publications. He has also worked in Nanotechnology and Renewable Energy, in particular in nanoparticles properties, synthesis, and their applications in drug delivery and their health effects, and energetic materials for solar energy applications. He has given many plenary, keynote and invited lectures at various national and international conferences worldwide. Professor Agarwal continues to serve on many academic, government, and industrial advisory committees. Dr. Agarwal is a Fellow sixteen societies including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Physical Society (APS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Royal Aeronautical Society and American society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He has received many prestigious honors and national/international awards from various professional societies and organizations for his research contributions.

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Ljubimova is a Professor and Director of Nanomedicine Research Center at the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She works in clinical and basic cancer research in her entire career. The major interest is the differential cancer gene expression as a tool for finding novel/early markers of cancer development, and for working out new nanomedicine drugs against these tumor targets for treatment and/or imaging. One of the novel markers, the structural tumor vessel wall protein laminin-411, is currently in a clinical trial as a prognostic and diagnostic marker for human glial tumor progression. These discoveries led to the development of new technologies for drug delivery and engineering of the new class of anti-cancer nanomedicine drugs. Currently her research is supported by three NIH/NCI, private and industry grants. She is the author of over 70 publications, reviews and book chapters as well as an inventor on nine patents and patent applications.

Primary research interests involve methods to block human glioma growth, brain tumor prevention treatments and the effects of air pollution on the brain.