Dr. Gaurav Manik is currently serving as Associate Professor in the Department of Polymer and Process Engineering at IIT Roorkee since 2018. He joined IITR 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 industry (3M, Indo Gulf Fertilizers & Chem. Ltd., Classic Stripes Pvt. Ltd.) and academia (BITS Pilani, BIET Jhansi) totaling up his rich experience to 16+ years. In industry, he is credited with creating and commercializing several innovative products and protecting IP through significant number of patents and record of inventions. His research interests include molecular modeling and simulations of polymers/materials, chemical process modeling and simulation, development of novel and industrially significant polymer composites, coatings, sealants and adhesives. He has published around 100 research publications in international peer reviewed SCI journals, patent applications, conferences and book chapters.Dr. SusheelKalia 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 is alsoavisiting professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy, for the year 2020-2021.Dr. Sushanta Kumar Sahoo is currently working as a Scientist in Materials Science and Technology Division, CSIR-National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and also serving as Assistant Professor in Chemical Sciences under Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (ACSIR), New Delhi, India. He worked as a Research Fellow at Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, India, during 2011-2015 and received PhD degree in Polymer Science & Technology from Utkal University, Odisha, India, in 2016. Then he worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Polymer & Process Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, during 2016-2018. Dr. Tarun Kumar Sharma holds Ph.D. in Soft Computing (Full Time) in 2013 from India Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Since June 2020, he is affiliated with Shobhit University, Gangoh, Saharanpur. Earlier he worked with Amity University Rajasthan as an Associate Professor & Head – Department of Computer Science & Engineering. He is a founding member of International Conference on Soft Computing: Theories and Applications (SoCTA Series). He has served as editorial board member and reviewer of national and internationaljournals. Dr. Om Prakash Verma is currently serving as Assistant Professor 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) in Polymer and Process Engineering, Process and Control and Instrumentation, and Electronics and Instrumentation, respectively. Prior to joining NITJalandhar, he has served extensively in academia (KIIT deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar; BansthaliVidyapith, Rajasthan; and Graphic Era University, Dehradun). His research interests includeprocess dynamics control and its optimization; modeling, simulation &control; optimal, adaptive and nonlinear control; optimization techniques;soft computing; machine &deep learning; machine/computer vision; blockchain; process design for energy efficiency.
