Advances and Challenges in Advanced Unmanned Aerial Systems

Zishun Liu is Professor of Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) and Executive Director of International Center for Applied Mechanics. Dr. Liu received B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in Applied Mechanics and Solid Mechanics from XJTU and M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in Solid Mechanics from the National University of Singapore (NUS). He served on the faculty of XJTU between 1986 and 1994, as Senior Scientist and Capability Group Manager at Institute of High Performance Computing, Singapore (IHPC), Singapore, and Associate Professor of NUS at various points from 1999 to 2012. As Visiting Scientist, he worked in Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart, Germany, and University of Glasgow, UK, in 2005 and 2006, respectively. His research interests are in the areas of Mechanics of Soft Materials, Computational Solid Mechanics & Biomechanics, Nanomechanics, and Vibro-Acoustic. He has published more than 220 SCI referred research papers. Now he also holds Adjunct Professorships in NUS.
Dr. Liu is Active Member of various leadership roles in editorial boards and professional communities as follows: Editor-in-Chief of Int. Journal of Applied Mechanics (IJAM) and Editor-in-Chief of Int. Journal of Computational Materials Science and Engineering (IJCMSE). He serves international communities as General Committee Member of Association of Asia-Pacific Computational Mechanics and General Committee Member of International Association for Computational Mechanics. He is also Honorary President of Singapore Association of Computational Mechanics.
Renfu Li received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Since 2009, he has been Professor at the School of Aerospace Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). His research interests include spacecraft dynamics and control, aircraft flight dynamics and control, flight vehicle design and engineering, UAV technology, cooperative control of multi-agent systems, etc.Xiaodong He is Professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, specializing in special environmental composite structure and engineering mechanics. He has conducted research on mechanics of complex materials, lightweight structure design, manufacturing, and evaluation, with his achievements being applied to carrier rockets, hypersonic vehicles, and related weapons and equipment. He has received 2 National Technological Invention Award Second Prize and 1 National Science and Technology Progress Award Third Prize. He has published 5 monographs and over 290 papers in SCI-indexed journals, including Advanced Materials, Journal of Materials Chemistry, and Carbon, with his papers being featured as journal covers. His received more than 8000 citations and an H-index of 48. He has also established a joint laboratory with the University of Tokyo, served as Conference Chairs and Keynote Speakers for many international conferences such as COMPO and THINFILMS.
Zheng Hong (George) Zhu is Director of the Space Engineering Design Laboratory at the Lassonde School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include tethered spacecraft systems, electrodynamic tether propulsion, space debris removal, space robotics, and advanced spacecraft materials. As Tier 1 York University Research Chair in Space Technology, Dr. Zhu is well known for his significant contributions to the field, including the autonomous capture and removal of space debris using electrodynamic tethers. He has received grants from the Canadian Space Agency for CubeSat missions and has supported the development of a revolutionary technology by Pratt Whitney Canada. Dr. Zhu is also Mentor and Leader in mechanical engineering education and research and has published extensively in his field. He is recognized as Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and member of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, Royal Society of Canada.