Dr. Catalin Pruncu is a Charter and Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (UK) since November 2015. Currently, his research is dedicated to further develop and validate hot form quench (HFQ®) Technology for use in the global automotive industry within Imperial College London as Research Fellow. He has published around 35 technical papers in reputed national and international journals/conferences and also served as reviewer for various journals. Catalin is editor and co-editor for two books and was recently granted a patent for a novel ball valve design with focus to reduce the friction between its main elements (i.e. ball/seat). Dr. Amit Aherwar is Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Madhav Institute of Technology & Science, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. He received his Ph.D. from Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. He has more than eight years of teaching and research experience. His research interest includes Tribology, Biomaterials, Advanced composites materials, recycle/reuse of industrial wastes for engineering applications, and Multi Criteria Optimization. He has published more than 35 technical papers in reputed national and international journals/conferences, and also served as reviewer for various journals. Prof. Dr. Stanislav Gorb is Professor and Director at the Zoological Institute of the Kiel University, Germany. He received his PhD degree in zoology and entomology at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev (Ukraine). Gorb was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna (Austria), a research assistant at University of Jena, a group leader at the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and for Metals Research in Stuttgart (Germany). Gorb's research focuses on morphology, structure, biomechanics, physiology, and evolution of surface-related functional systems in animals and plants, as well as the development of biologically inspired technological surfaces and systems. He received the Schlossmann Award in Biology and Materials Science in 1995, International Forum Design Gold Award in 2011 and Materialica "Best of" Award in 2011. In 1998, he was the BioFuture Competition winner for his works on biological attachment devices as possible sources for biomimetics. Gorb is Corresponding member of Academy of the Science and Literature Mainz, Germany (since 2010) and Member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany (since 2011). Gorb has authored several books, more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and four patents.
