Syed Quadir Moinuddin is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering at King Faisal University, Al-Hofuf, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Before joining, he has gained five years of experience as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering at Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) Foundation for Higher Education Hyderabad. He has completed his PhD in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, and Master’s, and Bachelor in the Department of Mechanical engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore and Anna University, Chennai respectively. His current areas of research are Advanced Metal Joining processes, Metal Additive Manufacturing, Welding metallurgy, Defect Diagnostics and Industry 4.0. Prior joining IITH, he was working as SRF and JRF at IITKGP and WRI, BHEL Trichy respectively. He has also worked as a Research Intern at JWRI; Osaka University, Japan under Sakura Science Exchange program. He has gained of 15 years in research and 7 years of teaching experience in the field of manufacturing science. He has been awarded “Weldwell specialty award for Best PhD thesis” for the year 2019 by IIW. He has been awarded “Excellence in Research” for the year 2015 by IITH. He has been awarded MHRD fellowship by the Govt. of India for pursuing higher studies from 2012 to 2017. Through his research work he has contributed to society in the form of national and international publications viz. book chapters, Journal articles and conferences. He has been active lifetime associate member of IIW.Murali Mohan Cheepu, born in 1988, received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Production Engineering from Andhra University (GITAM College) in Visakhapatnam, India. He earned his Master’s degree in Welding Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli (NITT) in India. In 2018, he was awarded his Doctoral degree from Kyungsung University in Republic of Korea. He also carried out his Post‑Doctoral research at Pukyong National University, Korea in 2019. In 2011, Dr. Murali was appointed as a Junior Manager at JSW Steel Ltd., where he oversaw the fabrication and maintenance of structural welding, overlay welding, and WAAM (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing) components. Dr. Murali is currently serving as the Research and Technical Sales Manager of the Welding Automation development centre at KOWELD CO., LTD. Republic of Korea. Prior to this, he worked as a Deputy General Manager of the Research and Technical Division at JIN HEUNG TECH CO., LTD. Republic of Korea, and Research and Project Manager at VITZRONEXTECH Co., Ltd., Republic of Korea and Research Manager at STARWELDS Inc. Republic of Korea. He has several years of industry experience, most notably at JSW STEEL Ltd. and STARWELDS, Inc. as a Research Manager specializing in the development of WAAM processes for large‑scale components, welding process design, automation, digitalization, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Murali has extensive research experience in additive manufacturing, welding and joining technologies, development of welding filler materials, mechanical behavior materials, and machine learning and AI of the WAAM process. Most recently, he started working for the development of welding methods for the construction of “Artificial Sun: Future Energy: Fusion & Plasma”. He has published research articles, edited books, and patents on Advances in Additive Manufacturing Processes and Automation in Welding Technologies, Green Technology, and Smart Materials for Engineering Applications, and continues to serve as the editorial board member of several journals. In 2023, Dr. Murali was honored with several prestigious awards, including the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer from Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), USA, and the Young Fellow Award from the Korean Welding and Joining Society (KWJS), Republic of Korea. In addition, he received the Best Researcher Award from the KWJS in 2020. Additionally, Dr. Murali received the Outstanding Contributor Award from the Korean Society for Precision Engineering (KSPE), Korea, and the Outstanding Citations Award from KWJS. This recognition was further elevated in 2024 with the “A. F. Davis Silver Medal Award” from the American Welding Society, USA, and in 2025 with the “IAAM Scientist Award” from the International Association of Advanced Materials, Sweden, highlighting Dr. Murali’s significant contributions and achievements in the field. Dr. Murali is an IEEE senior member and a member of Korean Welding and Joining Society (KWJS), Hong Kong Society of Mechanical Engineers (HKSME), American Welding Society (AWS), Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (KSME), and Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).Venkata Charan Kantumuchu currently works as the Global Quality Director at Electrex Inc., in Kansas, United States. He has more than 13 years of experience in the field of manufacturing quality, and he is a fabrication, welding, and additive manufacturing enthusiast. He has co-authored several technical articles, book chapters and patents. He has been awarded the “Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer” award by the society of manufacturing engineers for the year 2022. He has published seven patents and has been granted one, in the fields of materials, energy and technology. He has written several book chapters on additive manufacturing and welding. He was a keynote speaker at international conferences and reviewed a book on wire arc additive manufacturing fundamentals. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in India and has a master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Bradley University, United States. He also has an MBA in organizational leadership from Oklahoma Baptist University. He is a senior member of IEEE and the American Society for Quality (ASQ). He is a certified quality auditor, engineer, manager and a lean six sigma master black belt.
