Marcelo Sampaio de Alencar received his Master Degree in Electrical Engineering, from Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), Brazil, 1988 and his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Canada, 1993. For 18 years he worked for the Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Paraiba, where he was Full Professor. From 2003 to 2017, he was Chair Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil. Between 1982 and 1984, he worked for the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC). From 2017 to 2019 he was with the Federal University of Bahia and from 2019 to 2021 he was with the Senai Cimatec University, as Visiting Professor. He spent some time working for MCI-Embratel and the University of Toronto, as Visiting Professor. He is founder and President of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Communications (Iecom), founder and Vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of Paraiba (ACParaiba). He has been awarded several scholarships and grants, from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CNPq), two grants from the IEEE Foundation, scholarships from the University of Waterloo and from the Federal University of Paraiba, an achievement award for contributions to the Brazilian Telecommunications Society (SBrT), an award from the Medicine College of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), and an achievement award from the College of Engineering of the Federal University of Pernambuco, during its 110th year celebration. He published over 500 engineering and scientific papers and 30 books. He also wrote chapters for 13 books. Marcelo S. Alencar has contributed in different capacities to the following scientific journals: Editor of the Journal of the Brazilian Telecommunication Society; Member of the International Editorial Board of the Journal of Communications Software and Systems (JCOMSS), published by the Croatian Communication and Information Society (CCIS); Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Networks (JNW), published by Academy Publisher; creator and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Communication and Information Systems (JCIS), a joint edition of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) and SBrT. He also served on the Board of Directors of SBrT and on the SBMO Council. He is a Registered Professional Engineer, he was a columnist for the traditional Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Commercio, and was Vice-President External Relations of SBrT.
Valdemar C. da Rocha, Jr. received his PhD degree in electronics from the University of Kent, England, in 1976. In 1976, he joined the faculty of the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, as an Associate Professor and founded the Electrical Engineering Postgraduate Program. He has been a consultant to both the Brazilian Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology on postgraduate education and research in electrical engineering. He was the Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Committee in the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development for two terms. He was a Visiting Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Zurich, the University of Leeds and Lancaster University. He is a founding member, former President and Emeritus Member of the Brazilian Telecommunications Society. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE Information Theory Society and Communications Society, a former member of the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal Committee and a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
