About the Author: Dr. Gaurav Manik is serving as Associate Professor in the Department of Polymer and Process Engineering at Saharanpur Campus of IIT Roorkee since 2018. He joined IIT Roorkee in January 2013 as Assistant Professor in the same department. He holds a PhD (IIT Bombay), M.Tech (IIT Kanpur) and B.Tech (HBTI Kanpur) in Chemical Engineering. Prior to joining IITR, he has served extensively in the industry (3M, Indo Gulf Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd., Classic Stripes Pvt. Ltd.) and academia (BITS Pilani, BIET Jhansi) totalling up his rich experience to 18+ years. In the industry, he is credited with creating and commercializing several innovative products and protecting IP through a significant number of patents and records of inventions. His research interests include molecular modelling and simulations of polymers/materials, biosensing, chemical process modelling and simulation, development of novel and industrially significant sustainable polymer composites, coatings, sealants, quantum dots and adhesives. He has approximately 140 research publications in international peer-reviewed SCI journals, patent applications, conferences and book chapters. He has 63 publications in peer-reviewed chemical engineering, biomedical engg., polymer science and engineering journals of repute such as Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy, Microchimica Acta, Composites B: Engineering, Applied Surface Science, Polymer, Progress in Organic Coatings, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, to name a few and holds 7 granted patents/patent applications of industrial commercial relevance. He has contributed to 20 books and 49 conference publications. He has executed/supervised 5 research projects and supervised 1 post-doctoral, 4 PhD (+6 ongoing), 10 M.Tech students and 25 B.Tech projects. In his department at IIT Roorkee, he has recorded the highest average number of research journal publications/patent applications consistently in the last few years and maintained amongst the highest student appraisal score in teaching. Among several awards received by him to disseminate professional knowledge and research, he has been awarded the prestigious APAC level TechForum Contribution Award at 3M in 2012; received Best Innovative Product Design Award twice in 2010 & 2011 at 3M; Secondment as visiting faculty sanctioned by the President of India for teaching at the international platform at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and VICAL Award for Best Technical Paper by Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChe), India. He has been an invited speaker, guest and sessions chair at several national and international conferences and workshops in India and abroad, and serves as Board of Director of STEM Research Society, India.
Dr. Susheel Kalia is an Associate Professor & Head in the Department of Chemistry at Army Cadet College Wing of Indian Military Academy Dehradun, India. He was awarded GOC-in-C Commendation Card by General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Army Training Command, Shimla on 26 January 2018 for a positive approach, high level of motivation, outstanding qualities of leadership and sincerity towards the organization. He has been selected as a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy for the year 2020-21. He was also visiting researcher in the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering at the University of Bologna, Italy in 2013 and held a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Bahra University and Shoolini University, India until 2015. Dr Kalia has around 82 research articles in international journals along with 13 books, 11 book chapters and around 7000 citations in his academic career. He has guided many MPhil. and Ph.D. students and delivered many invited talks at national and international conferences. His research interests include polymeric composites, bio- and nanocomposites, conducting polymers, nanofibers, nanoparticles, nanoferrites, hybrid materials and hydrogels. Kalia is an experienced book editor, and he has edited many successful books with Springer, Wiley and Elsevier. Dr Kalia is the main editor of the Springer Series on Polymer and Composite Materials, Springer International Publication, Switzerland and member of Editorial Board, International Journal of Plastics Technology, Springer India. In addition, he is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the Asian Polymer Association, American Chemical Society, Indian Cryogenics Council, the Society for Polymer Science, Indian Society of Analytical Scientists, and the International Association of Advanced Materials.
Dr. Om Prakash Verma is currently serving as Assistant Professor (since 2018) in the Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering, Dr B R Ambedkar NIT Jalandhar. He holds a PhD (IIT Roorkee), M.Tech (Dr B R Ambedkar NIT Jalandhar) and B.Tech (Dr B R Ambedkar University, Agra), respectively. His research interests includes linear-nonlinear dynamical control system and their optimization; optimal, adaptive and robust control; soft computing and optimization techniques; machine/deep/quantum learning; machine/computer vision; process design for energy efficiency, UAV autonomous navigation system. He has more than 60 research publications in international peer-reviewed SCI journals, patent applications, conferences, and book chapters. He also edited 5 books of International conference proceedings of SoCTA 2018, SoCTA 2020, SoCTA 2021, CAMSE 2020, CAMSE 2021 published by Springer. He has the credit for executing 04 research projects funded by various funding agencies. He is an associate editor of the International Journal of Security and Privacy in Pervasive Computing (IJSPPC) (SCIE and SCOPUS Indexed). He is an Editorial Review Board Member on Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, USA. He is one of the founding members and secretary of SoCTA, CAMSE and RAiSE international conferences.
Dr. Tarun K. Sharma holds Ph.D. in Soft Computing (Full Time) in 2013 from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. Since June 2020, he is affiliated with Shobhit University, Gangoh, Saharanpur. From July 2019 to May 2020, he was associated with Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand as a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Earlier he worked with Amity University Rajasthan as an Associate Professor & Head - Department of Computer Science & Engineering / IT as well as Alternate Director - Outcome. He has supervised 2 Ph.D., 1 in submission, 3 are in process, 5 M.Tech Dissertations, several MCA Projects and B.Tech Projects. He has over 70 research publications in International Journal and Conferences of repute (SCI & SCOPUS) with a cumulative Impact Factor of 25.322. He has been to Amity Institute of Higher Education Mauritius on deputation. He has availed travel grants from Microsoft Research India, CSIR, New Delhi and DST New Delhi to visit Australia; Singapore and Malaysia, respectively, to present the research papers in the conference of high repute. He is a founding member of International Conference on Soft Computing: Theories and Applications (SoCTA Series). He has edited 4 volumes of Conference Proceedings (2016; 2017; 2018 & 2019) published by AISC series of Springer (SCOPUS indexed) Publication and two edited books with Asset Analytics, Springer. He has been Associate editor of International Journal of Computer Information Systems and Industrial Management Applications (IJCISIM - SCOPUS Indexed) and Guest editor in several International SCOPUS indexed Journals like IJACI, IJAIP, IJSIR, IJAMC, IJAEC, IJISDC, IJPD for topical issues. He served as editorial board member and reviewer of national and international journals.
