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I hold a master’s degree in physics and earned my PhD in Civil, Chemical, and Environmental Engineering from the Università degli Studi di Genova. In the last years I served as a researcher at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Earth Sciences 'Ardito Desio' until February 2023. Currently, I am a researcher at Genoa University, affiliated with the Department of Civil, Chemical, and Environmental Engineering. I am a member of Meteocean, a research group specializing in environmental fluid dynamics and engineering applications related to meteorology and ocean dynamics (https://meteocean.science/). My core research revolves around atmospheric numerical models with multiple objectives, including the study of extreme events, energy assessment for renewable power plants, and research on climate change.
Dr. Gengxin Zhang is deeply involved in the research of combustion and the utilization of low-carbon and zero-carbon energy fuels. He earned his Ph.D. from Hiroshima University, Japan, marking a significant milestone in his academic journey. Currently, he serves as a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham's School of Engineering, within the Vehicle Technology Research Center in the UK. His contributions to the field are substantial, with more than 20 peer-reviewed papers that underscore his significant impact. He has received the Young Scientist Award and the SAE Best Paper Award in the past. Moreover, he plays an active role in the academic community, both as a member of the Young Editorial Board of "Energy & Environmental Materials", a guest editor for the special issue of "Sustainability" and a peer reviewer for prestigious journals such as "Applied Energy", "International Journal of Hydrogen Energy", “Sustainable Energy & Fuels”, etc. The transportation sector accounts for a significant proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the rapid development of electric vehicles, petrol remain the most popular type of fuel based on sales figures in the past year. European governmental agencies continue to enact policies aimed at curbing and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the automotive field. Recently, the concept of e-fuels has been introduced and widely disseminated in Europe, and it is considered a crucial element in changing the game and achieving climate goals. It is foreseeable that as the production costs of e-fuels decrease, the energy structure of powertrains will become more diversified.
Walter Issamu Suemitsu (Life Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, in 1975; the M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, in 1979, and the Dr.Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France, in 1986. He did his Postdoctoral Research at Laval University, QC, Canada, from 1991 to 1993. He started to teach at the Department of Electrical Engineering of UFRJ in 1977, and currently is Professor. Since 1986 he teaches and does research at COPPE, the Graduate School of Engineering of UFRJ, He was Dean of the Technology Center of UFRJ from July 2006 to July 2014. From August 2014 to June 2018, he was Director of Interdisciplinary Nucleus for Social Development, which he was one of the founders. Since July 2018 he is Dean of Technology Center of UFRJ until now. His research interests are applications or Power Electronics Converters to Electrical Drives and Renewable Energy Systems. He is also working with Energy Transition, Smart Grids and Smart Buildings and applications of Artificial Intelligence, including Ethical and Juridic aspects in Electrical Systems. He is also interested in Social Technology and its applications, in the effort to attain the 17 Goals of ODS of UN. Professor Suemitsu is member of Brazilian Society of Power Electronics and of Brazilian Society of Automatics.
Dr. DIAO Lijun is the founder and director of the Key Lab. of Vehicular Multi-Energy Drive Systems (VMEDS). He is IET Fellow and senior members of IEEE and China Electrotechnical Society, and also a deputy Secretary-General of Committee of Electrical and Electronic Technologies for Rail Transportation, China-Electrotechnical Society, and a member of Traffic Electrification Committee of China Power Supply Society. His research interest includes power electronics and ac drives, vehicular electrification applications, hybrid energy management, safety control, etc.. Dr. DIAO is the pioneer for research and application of VMEDS, and made many groundbreaking contributions in the area, such as the traction systems for China's first 100% low floor light rail vehicle and first hybrid EMU. He is one of the founders of the International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies for Rail Transportation (EITRT) since 2013, which has now a broad impact in the vehicular area. He was awarded one of the 15th Zhan Tianyou Railway Science and Technology award-youth award, BJTU excellent hundred people, etc..
Giorgos Panaras is Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Dpt., University of Western Macedonia. Dr. Panaras presents expertise in the field of thermal engineering, and more specifically in building energy systems and their relation with Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ); he holds a PhD on solar air-conditioning. He has collaborated, for more than 10 years, with National Centre for Scientific Research DEMOKRITOS (Greece), on the field of energy systems performance analysis, on research as well as accredited testing level. By this time, he is largely involved on the investigation of the relation of Indoor Environmental Conditions and Building Energy Performance. At the same time, his interest in HVAC systems, and their combination with solar thermal systems, remains active, while he is developing activity on control technologies for Indoor Climate and HVAC systems. He has participated in 25 R& D projects, as a member of the research team or scientific responsible and has over than 90 publications in relevant Scientific Journals, International and National Conferences. He is the Director of the Postgraduate Program “Advanced Engineering of Energy Systems”, promoting the knowledge and the development of research in the scientific field of advanced engineering methods, focusing on energy systems.
Abdelrahman is a post-doctoral researcher in the field of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) for power generation applications. Abdelrahman has got his PhD from City, University of London, on the simulation and loss investigation of large-scale sCO2 axial turbines. Abdelrahman has obtained MSc and BSc degrees, both in mechanical engineering, from Alexandria University, Egypt. He has held many teaching positions such as a graduate teaching assistant at City, University of London, and assistant lecturer at Alexandria University.
Zero carbon technology for Marine power
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Guido Schmitz, Institut of Materials Science, Univ. of Stuttgart, Germany Guido Schmitz studied Physics and Theology at the Universities of Freiburg and Göttingen in Germany. He graduated in Material Physics from the University of Göttingen in the year 1994. After periods as assistant professor in Göttingen and a research fellowship at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, he was appointed in 2002 as full professor in Materials Physics at the University of Münster, Germany. In 2012, he accepted a call to the University of Stuttgart, to chair the department of Materials Physics. His scientific work is focussed on the understanding of solid state reactions in nanostructured materials and devices, at the cutting edge of microscopy. Atomic transport along grain boundaries and triple junctions, structure and stability of interfaces, or the impact of elastic stress are physical phenomena to be pointed out. From the viewpoint of application, semiconductor metallization, magnetic sensors, solder interconnects, thin film batteries and hydrogen storage should be named. His research team is well known for instrumental and computational developments of the atom probe tomography, an exciting nanoanalytical tool of outstanding resolution and single atom sensitivity. Guido Schmitz received the Werner Köster award of the German Materials Society, holds an honorary doctor grade of the National University in Cherkasy, Ukraine, and is an appointed Fellow of the International Field Emission Society. He serves as the editor in chief of the International Journal of Materials Science.
Dr. Sunetra Chowdhury is Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering Department, and SASOL-NRF/DSI Research Chair in Energy and Power Systems Modelling in University of Cape Town, South Africa. She is an accomplished researcher in power and energy systems. Her research expertise includes power system modelling, power operation, energy management and protection, grid integration of renewable distributed generation, microgrids and hybrid renewable energy systems, energy storage, and electric vehicles charging infrastructure. Her core research strongly focuses on renewable energy systems for energy security, just energy transition and reduction of carbon footprints. She graduated 6 PhD and 26 MSc students and published 36 journal papers and 300 peer-reviewed conference papers to date. In 2009, she co-authored the research book "Microgrid and Active Distribution Networks" published by The IET (UK) in 2009 currently having over 1400 citations. She has successfully executed research projects on microgrids, hybrid renewable energy systems and grid integration, power system linear state estimation and optimal placement of phasor measurement unit funded by National Research Foundation and Eskom, South Africa.
Dr. Jeffrey D. Naber holds the titles of University Professor and the Richard & Elizabeth Henes Professor of Energy Systems in the Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at Michigan Technological University in the US. He is also the Director of the Advanced Power Systems Research Center. Dr. Naber earned his Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States. After his PhD, he joined the US Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratory, in the Combustion Research Facility as a Post Doc studying characteristics of high-pressure sprays and combustion of diesel, natural gas, and hydrogen. Following his post-doctoral studies, he joined Motorola working in the field of controls and onboard diagnostics for automotive and commercial vehicles with companies in the US, Europe, and Asia. At Michigan Tech his research and teaching endeavors focus on energy transitions, improving energy efficiency, and reducing emissions for on and off-road vehicles and power generation technologies. Dr. Naber has received the SAE Horning Award, the ASME Internal Combustion Engine Award, and the Engineering Society of Detroit Distinguished Service Award for his work in retraining engineers to transition with new skills to vehicle electrification. In 2022, he was named a University Professor by the President and Provost in special recognition of his outstanding scholarly contributions to the University and discipline.
Fereshteh Sattari obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, Canada, in Chemical & Materials Engineering-Process Control. Her area of research was optimizing and simulating the biomass conversion process by employing Artificial Intelligence techniques. Currently, as a Research Associate and Instructor in the Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering and the Lynch School of Engineering Safety and Risk Management at the University of Alberta, she teaches both grad and undergrad courses and supervises various research projects. In one of these research projects, her responsibility is to apply Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to analyze incident reports and reduce incident rates in oil & gas companies. She leads some projects in the Canadian Rail Research Laboratory. She is also one of the principal investigators in a project related to “Regulatory and Insurance Gap Analysis for Hydrogen Value Chain Development in Alberta.”
Professor Luka Powanga is a distinguished professor and seasoned economist globally recognized as a creative problem solver, a visionary, and a thought leader. He is the founder and the Executive Director of the Energy Africa Conference (https://energyafricaconference.com), an organization that actualizes projects in Africa utilizing its ecosystem of investors across the globe. He founded the North American Development Group L.L.C. (https://northamericandevelopmentgroupllc.com), an offshoot of the Energy Africa Conference, focused on actualizing Energy and Mining projects in Africa by leveraging the ecosystem of investors and project developers that the Energy Africa Conference created. Professor Powanga is the founding member of the Denver Chapter of the Angel Capital Group (https://sheltowee.com/Angel-Network), which funds start-ups and growth companies. He worked as the U.S. correspondent for CargoNews Asia. He has judged start-ups and growth companies in Dubai and the U.S.A. In addition, he participated in the film Hot Money (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13837022/). Dr. Powanga sits on various boards such as the Gulf United Industrial Consortia advisory board (https://www.ugicon.com/our-team/), a consortium of companies based in Saudi Arabia, the AL-Khalifa Business School based in London, and Switzerland (http://akbs.assafdynasty.com/board-members/), the Operation Water board which serves over 750,000 households (https://operationwater.org/en/technical-advisory-board) in Mozambique. He also serves on the v. He chaired the African Chamber of Commerce in Colorado, U.S. He is a Professor of Economics and Finance at Regis University in the Anderson College of Business and Computing https://www.regis.edu/academics/faculty-finder/faculty/luka-powanga. He has deployed classroom and online programs and joint programs with other universities. He has received many academic and humanitarian awards. He has developed and taught international logistics, economics, finance, international business, strategy formulation, and implementation, entrepreneurship, capstone, and commercialization, including incubating student businesses. He was part of a small team that pioneered the Online M.B.A. Program, which grew from zero to over 4,000 students worldwide. He implemented the Physicians M.B.A. program, M.B.A. in Emerging Economies with the University of ITESO in Mexico, a Masters in International Studies, a collaborative program between Regis University and the University of Ulster in Ireland, and the M.B.A. degree in the Business of Government. He was the founding board member of the Sullivan Center of Entrepreneurship at Regis University and has chaired, keynoted, and organized numerous academic and business conferences. He is a highly sought-after speaker at local and international forums. He was on the committee that evaluated all the programs at Regis University to ascertain their viability. He is a well-published and regular contributor to the Renewables Global Status Report and the Renewables in Cities Global Status Reports (http://www.ren21.net/). Recently, he earned the Trailblazer award for increasing energy access to communities in underserved areas across Africa. Dr. Powanga worked for Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines as a metallurgist. Dr. Powanga earned his Ph.D. and Master's Degrees in Mineral Economics with a minor in Finance from Colorado School of Mines (U.S.A.), a Master of Science in Computer Information Technologies, a graduate-level certificate in Object-Oriented Programming from Regis University(U.S.A.), and a Bachelors in Metallurgy and Mineral Processing from the University of Zambia.
Dr. Elias Randjbaran is an esteemed Metallurgical Engineer with extensive experience and advanced academic qualifications in Materials Engineering from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). He holds a PhD and Master's degrees in the field of materials engineering, reflecting his commitment to excellence in research and academia. With over twenty years of expertise in the Composite Materials Industry, Dr. Randjbaran has cultivated a strong research interest and specialization in Progressive damage analysis of thin-walled composite laminated structures, Buckling and post-buckling of nano composite structures, Structural crashworthiness, and ballistic impact analysis. Moreover, Dr. Randjbaran is an esteemed member of esteemed professional societies such as Aerospace Society Malaysia (AEROS Malaysia), American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Space & Satellite Professionals International. These affiliations underscore his dedication to staying abreast of industry developments and actively contributing to the advancement of his field. As a talented research professional, Dr. Randjbaran has an impressive publication record, having led his team in the publication of over 30 research papers in reputable peer-reviewed academic journals. His work has garnered significant recognition with a citation count surpassing 440, an h-index of 11, and an i10-index of 16. Dr. Randjbaran's areas of expertise extend to domains such as defence, space, and advanced manufacturing. His commitment to pushing the boundaries of knowledge in these fields is evident in his track record of accomplishments and in his ongoing pursuit of cutting-edge research. With his wealth of experience and exceptional skills, Dr. Randjbaran continues to be a valuable contributor to the academic and professional communities, demonstrating a dedication to excellence and a passion for advancing the forefront of Composite Materials Engineering.
B. L Narasimharaju (Senior Member IEEE) is a Professor of Electrical Engineering, NIT Warangal. India. He received B.E, M.E degree in Electrical Engineering from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), Bangalore in 1999 and 2002, respectively, and the Ph.D degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee), Roorkee, India, in 2012. He worked as Project Trainee at ABB Bangalore from March 2001 to August 2001, since then till March 2002 at LRDE, Ministry of Defence, India. He was Teaching Assistant at UVCE, Bangalore from April 2002 to August 2003. Since August 2003 to May 2012, he was Faculty of Electrical Engineering, MIT Manipal University, MAHE, Manipal, India. Currently, he is a Professor of Electrical Engineering, NIT Warangal, India. He is a Senior member IEEE, Life member of ISTE Delhi & System Society of India (SSI). His research credential includes, 07 funded research projects to a worth of 3.00 crores, 09Ph.Ds guidance, 90+ research publications in reputed journals and conference proceedings. In his other academic & research activities, he has conducted 21 research training programmes by which trained more than 1200+ academic & research community. His research interests include; Power Conversion & Control Techniques; LED Drivers for Lighting Systems; Bidirectional Converter for Energy Storage Integration, Multilevel Inversion; Grid integration of solar energy; Switched Reluctance Motor & Induction Motor drives.
José Viriato Coelho Vargas holds BSc degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Biology and Business Administration, MSc in Thermal Sciences, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University, USA. He is a Full Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Federal University of Paraná, UFPR, Curitiba, Brazil, and a Visiting Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Advanced Power Systems at Florida State University, USA. He leads the Energy and Thermal Sciences group at UFPR, and develops theoretical, numerical, and experimental scientific research in alternative energy sources, oil refining processes, cogeneration and power systems, HVAC-R systems, heat and mass transfer, biotechnology, and biomedical engineering. The main ongoing works of the group involve the development of new fuel cells, new absorption refrigerators, thermal management of all electric ships, cabinets for electronic packaging, the use of infrared imaging in engineering and medicine, as well as the creation of a Sustainable Energy Research & Development Center (NPDEAS) from microalgae derived biodiesel and other sources. He is the Technical Editor for the Thermal Engineering journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences. He has published 156 articles in ISI Web of Science, 1 book, 12 book chapters, 387 conference proceedings – 339 full articles and 48 abstracts, ISI H-factor: 27.
Bogdan Marinescu was born in 1969 in Bucharest, Romania. He received the Engineering degree from the Polytechnical Institute of Bucharest in 1992, the PhD from Université Paris Sud-Orsay, France in 1997 and the “Habilitation à diriger des recherches” from Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France in 2010. He is currently a Professor in Ecole Centrale Nantes and LS2N laboratory where he is the Head of the chair “Analysis and control of power grids” - http://chairerte.ec-nantes.fr/home/ - (2014-2024) and the Coordinator of the POSYTYF H2020 RIA project - https://posytyf-h2020.eu/ - (2020-2023) and DREAM Erasmus Mundus Master - https://master-dream.ec-nantes.fr/ - (2021-2027). In the first part of his carrier, he was active in R&D divisions of industry (EDF and RTE) and as a part-time professor (especially from 2006 to 2012 in Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan). His main fields of interest are the theory and applications of linear systems, robust control and power systems engineering.