Dr. Ashwani K. Gupta is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. He obtained his PhD and higher doctorate (DSc) from the University of Sheffield, UK, and also DSc from the University of Southampton, UK. He received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, the University of Derby, UK, and KMUTNB, Thailand, bestowed by the Princess of Thailand. His research interests include swirl flows, combustion, air pollution, sprays, high intensity distributed combustion, fuel reforming, waste and biomass to clean fuels, pyrolysis and gasification, acid gas treatment for sulfur recovery, and laser diagnostics for high speed flows He is Honorary Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), UK.He is the founding co-editor of the Energy Engineering and Environment Series published by CRC Publishers. He is Associate Editor of J. Propulsion & Power, Intl. J. Sprays & Combustion Dynamics, and J. Applied Energy. He is the recipient of AIAA Energy Systems, Propellants & Combustion, Air Breathing Propulsion, and Pendray awards; ASME George Westinghouse Gold, James Harry Potter Gold, James Landis, Worcester Reed Warner, Holley medal, Honda Medal, and Melville Medal awards; ASME-AIM Percy Nicholls award; ASEE Ralph Coats Roe award. At the University of Maryland, he received President Kirwan Research award and College of Eng. Research award. He has co-authored over 250 journal papers, 500 plus conference papers, 3 books, and 12 edited books. Dr. Hukam C. Mongia continues to provide services in gas turbine combustion science and technology innovation since May 2011. During his 7-year stay at Purdue University, he collaborated with his colleagues and students on research activities relevant to next-generation energy efficient fuel-flexible ultra-low emissions gas turbine engines for propulsion and power generation. These included collaborative works with IISc, IITM, UCONN/HAPRI-ACAE, Spectral Energies, NASA, Woodward, Nexus, FAA/UT and Dresser Rand. During his 37-year career with three engine design and manufacturing companies (GE Aviation, Allison now Rolls Royce of North America, and Garrett now Honeywell Aerospace), he has contributed significantly in developing combustion technology, design methodology and tools in addition to transition of technology into products; e.g., TAPS for GEnx, LEAP-X, GE9X and other future GE propulsion and aero derivative industrial engines. Dr. Mongia is credited with more than 300 publications, 30 patents and several significant awards and recognition, including Fellow of AIAA and ASME, recipient of AIAA Air Breathing award, Best Paper award by AIAA Terrestrial Energy Committee, “125 Alumni to Watch”, University of Massachusetts 125th Anniversary Celebration in 1988, and 1st Edison Award “to annually recognize key technical innovators from General Electric,”. Dr Pankaj Chandna is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra, Haryana. He has more than twenty-six years of professional experience, with a blend of teaching, research and education administration and an excellent academic record. He has the privilege to serve as the President (Vice Chancellor), Mewar University, Rajasthan. His academic contributions include publishing of about ninety-two research papers in international and national journals/conferences, supervision of 14 PhD scholars and 38 M.Tech. dissertations in the varied areas of industrial engineering including scheduling, inventory management, ergonomics and GSCM, CAE etc. In addition to the above, he has been serving as member of board ofgovernors/academic councils/board of studies of various universities and engineering institutions; member of various evaluation/selection committees & regulatory bodies; member of editorial boards & reviewer of journals. He has participated, presented papers/talks and chaired technical sessions in more than thirty-two conferences/workshops in Australia, Canada, Dubai, France, India, Malaysia, Singapore and USA. He has been the recipient of many international and national awards, appreciations including ENVIROENERGY Technocrat Appreciation Award- 2010 (WFO, UK); Technocrat Par Excellence Scroll of Honour-2009 (MSME, Govt. of India); appreciation by Hon’ble Board of Governors, NIT Kurukshetra-2009; appreciation by Hon’ble Chairman, Board of Governors, NIT Kurukshetra-2007 etc. He has been very actively involved in the administrative/managerial activities of the institute in terms of creating various industry supported centers of excellence; organization of twenty international/national conferences, short term courses, workshops, symposium etc. He has also worked as Vice-Chairman with South Asia forum for Energy Efficiency (SAFEE), a joint Venture of World Energy Council & WFO UK. Currently, he also shoulders the responsibilities of the Dean-Industry & International Relations and the President, NIT Kurukshetra Alumni Association (NITKAA). Dr. Gulshan Sachdeva is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra, India. He obtained his PhD from NIT Kurukshetra in 2010. His research interests include: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques, Heat Exchangers Design, Ejector Refrigeration System, Vapor Absorption System, Hybrid Cooling Techniques, Optimization of the HVAC Systems, Solar Assisted Cooling Methods, and Bio-gasifiers, Toroidal Gasifier etc. He is a life member of the Institution of Engineers and Indian Society of Heat and Mass Transfer. He is actively engaged in providing consultancy to various industries /organizations on cooling load estimation, duct design and air intake systems. He has 18 years of teaching and research experience. He has guided 3 PhD and 35 M. Tech students. He is presently working on DST sponsored research project on “Performance Enhancement of Vapor Compression System of Small Capacity using Ejector as an Expansion Device”. He has delivered invited talks on emerging areas, a few are: Ejector Cooling System, Heat Transfer Enhancement using Vortex Generators, Solar Thermal Systems in reputed technical institutions of India. He had organized 9th and 10th iteration of a series of International Workshop on Energy, Power and Propulsion which were held at NIT Kurukshetra in association with University of Maryland, University of Illinois, IIT Kanpur and ACRi USA. He has presented his research work in reputed International Conferences held in Paris, Melbourne, Miami and Venice. He has co-authored over 25 research papers in reputed International Journals, and 35 conference papers.
