Speakers

Keynot Speakers

Prof. Yuyuan Zhao (University of Liverpool, UK)

Dr. Yuyuan Zhao graduated with a BEng in 1985 and MSc in 1988 from Dalian University of Technology, China, and a DPhil in Materials from Oxford University in 1996. He was a Lecturer at Dalian University of Technology from 1988 to 1991, a Research Associate at the MADYLAM Laboratory of CNRS, France in 1995, and a Research Fellow at Birmingham University from 1995 to 1998. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao joined Liverpool University in 1998 as a Lecturer and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2005, Reader in 2010 and Professor in 2015. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao pioneered the Sintering and Dissolution Process (SDP) for manufacturing aluminium foam, which inspired the subsequent developments of several powder-based space-holder methods for manufacturing metal foams. He further invented the Lost Carbonate Sintering (LCS) process, a more versatile and cost-effective method for producing micro-porous metals. The LCS technology has led to the creation of Versarien, a highly successful start-up company which mass produces micro-porous copper for thermal management applications. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao was awarded the Ivor Jenkins Medal in 2015 for an outstanding contribution to powder metallurgy in developing and commercialising innovative powder based technologies for manufacturing metal foams. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao current research is focused on the manufacture, characterisation and applications of porous metals and metal matrix syntactic foams.

Prof. Jesús Toribio (University of Salamanca, Spain)

Professor Jesus Toribio graduated in Civil Engineering in 1982 and then in Mathematics in 1986. In 1987 he was awarded his PhD in the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and turned into Associate Professor in that Institution. In 1992 he became Full Professor and Head of the Materials Science Department of the University of La Coruña (at the age of 32, thus being the youngest Full Professor in the area of Materials Science in Spain). In 2000 he moved to the University of Salamanca (USAL) where is currently Full Professor of Materials Science and Head of the Fracture and Structural Integrity Research group (FSIRG) of that Institution.
His research work is mainly concerned with fatigue and fracture mechanics, environmentally assisted cracking, stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement/degradation/damage of metals and alloys (mainly cold drawn pearlitic steel wires for civil engineering and austenitic stainless steels for nuclear engineering and energy applications), covering theoretical, computational and experimental aspects. He actively participates in International Conferences, very often being member of the International Advisory Committee, organising Special Sessions/Symposia, being Session Chairman or delivering Plenary/Keynote/Invited Lectures. Professor Dr. Jesus Toribio has published more than 500 scientific papers, most of them in international books and journals.
He is the Chairman of the Technical Committee 10 (TC10): Environmentally Assisted Cracking of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) and has been Director (2013-2017) of the International Congress of Fracture-The World Academy of Structural Integrity (ICF-WASI), being responsible of launching the Ibero-American Academy of Structural Integrity (IA2SI). Prof. Toribio has been awarded a variety of scientific research prizes and awards including: (i) UPM Young Scientist Award of the Polytechnic University of Madrid; (ii) METROTEC Award for the best Technological Research Project; (iii) Honour Medal of the Spanish Group of Fracture (GEF/SEIE) in recognition of his research achievements in the field of fracture mechanics; (iv) Fellow of the Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT) in recognition of leadership and outstanding work in engineering sciences, (v) Top Reviewer 2011 in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the quality of the Elsevier International Journal Engineering Fracture Mechanics, (vi) Fellow of the European Structural Society (ESIS Fellow) for his outstanding contributions to the art, science, teaching or practice of fracture mechanics and his service to the society; (vii) Honorary Member of the Italian Group of Fracture (IGF) in acknowledgement and appreciation of his outstanding achievements in the research field of fracture mechanics.

Prof. Ian D. Walker, IEEE Fellow (Clemson University, USA)

Ian Walker received the B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Hull, England, in 1983 and the M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 and 1989. Professor Walker is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Senior Member of the AIAA. He has served as Vice President for Financial Activities for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, and as Chair of the AIAA Technical Committee on Space Automation and Robotics. He has also served on the Editorial Boards of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, the International Journal of Robotics and Automation, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, and the International Journal of Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing. His research has been funded by DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, NASA/EPSCoR, NSF/EPSCoR, the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Department of Energy, South Carolina Commission of Higher Education, Sandia National Laboratories, and Westinghouse Hanford Company. He is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University. Professor Walker's research focuses on research in the construction, modeling, and application of continuum robots.

Speech Title: Continuum Robots for Healthcare Applications
Abstract: This Keynote talk will provide an overview of research in biologically inspired continuous backbone "trunk and tentacle" continuum robots. Continuum robots are an emerging form of robot structure, featuring smooth backbones. These structures can be formed using a variety of materials and actuation techniques. Often inspired by structures in biology including the trunks of elephants and the arms of octopuses, these robots are inherently compliant. This allows them to adapt to their environments and to penetrate congested spaces where traditional robots cannot. However, their modeling, sensing, and control present novel, interesting, and significant challenges. In the talk, continuum robots inspired by octopus arms and plants (vines) will be discussed. Use of these robots for novel healthcare applications, targeted towards aging in place technologies and surgical procedures, will be discussed.

Invited Speaker

Prof. Sujan Debnath (Curtin University, Malaysia)

Dr. Sujan (CEng MIMechE) Joined Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia in October 2008 after completion of two years tenure in Multimedia University, Malaysia. Since 2014, he has been appointed as the Head of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin Sarawak. Dr. Sujan obtained his PhD Degree from the University of Science Malaysia in 2006 majoring applied mechanics with specific research focuses on interfacial thermal mismatch stress analysis in layered structure.
Over the years, he has been working in the area of thermo-mechanical stress analysis, green composite materials, and polymer composite materials.He has more than 65 publications in reputable international journals and conference proceedings.
At present, Dr. Sujan is supervising four PhD and three MPhil students. Dr. Sujan is a Chartered Engineer and member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, UK.