Prof. Younho Cho is a Professor in the School of Mechanical Design and Engineering at Pusan National University (PNU), South Korea. Since 2004, he has been a leading figure in the field of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and structural integrity. Dr. Cho recently concluded a distinguished term as the President of the 20th World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (WCNDT), a role he held from 2016 to 2024. His leadership extends to several high-level committees, including serving as the Vice President of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (KSME) and as a Commissioner for the National Standards Expert Committee (ISO/TC 135/SC3 WG6).

Beyond his administrative leadership, Dr. Cho is a globally recognized expert in ultrasonic guided wave propagation and structural health monitoring (SHM). His research focuses on the development of long-range pipe real-time inspection systems and advanced tomography imaging for power plant facilities. His laboratory has pioneered techniques in nonlinear acoustics for detecting micro-closed cracks and has expanded the application of ultrasound into biological fields, such as measuring human bone mineral density. Most recently, his work has focused on implementing guided wave inspection techniques for high-speed rail infrastructure and composite aircraft structures, bridging the gap between fundamental wave mechanics and critical industrial applications.

Dr. Zheng Fan is an associate professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2010, and his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Acoustics from Nanjing University in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Currently, he leads a research team dedicated to developing novel techniques for the non-destructive evaluation, structural health monitoring, and sound manipulation. His work integrates advanced physics and modeling techniques with the development of technologies that can be rapidly deployed in practical settings. Dr. Fan maintains strong links with global industry, collaborating with major companies such as Rolls-Royce, Shell, Lloyd's Register, EDF, and Sembcorp, etc. His research spans from thorough investigations of fundamental theories to the application of science in addressing real-world challenges. The results of his work have been published in over 100 papers in top tier journals. He holds a few international patents and has successfully licensed these technologies to industry partners. In 2018, Dr. Fan was awarded the Achenbach Medal for his outstanding contributions to structural health monitoring. Since 2020, he has been ranked among the world's top 2% of scientists by Stanford University. Dr. Fan also serves as an Associate Editor for "Structural Health Monitoring – An International Journal" and "Ultrasonics," two leading journals in his field.

Evgeny Glushkov is a Principal Investigator of the Institute for Mathematics, Mechanics and Informatics and Professor of the Department of Computer Technologies and Applied Mathematics, Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia. He received his PhD and DrSc degrees (Phys-Math) for the research in wave processes in solids and structures from the Rostov State University in 1978 and Leningrad State University in 1988, respectively; Laureate of the Russian State Prize for Science and Technology, 2002. Currently, his research interests focus on resonance wave phenomena, the evaluation of material properties based on wave probing data, and wave dynamics of piezoelectric smart structures. He has published over 50 articles in high-ranking journals (Ultrasonics, JASA, Smart Materials and Structures, Sound and Vibration, Wave Motion, etc.) and two monographs.

Prof. Ning Hu is the Director of Interdisciplinary Research Institute of Advanced Intelligent Equipment, Xihua University, China. He is a National High-Level Talent Expert, an Expert Entitled to Special Government Allowance from the State Council and a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.

He has long dedicated himself to interdisciplinary research spanning solids mechanics, mechanical engineering, and composite materials. His academic career includes positions at several prestigious institutions, including Tsinghua University, Tohoku University (Japan), Johns Hopkins University (USA), Chiba University (Japan), Chongqing University (China), etc. He has published 5 books and been granted over 50 patents. He has authored more than 800 peer-reviewed journal papers, which have accumulated over 30,000 citations, with an H-index of 82 (Scopus). He has been recognized as a Highly Cited Chinese Researcher by Elsevier every year since 2014. In the past two years, he has also been featured on the "World's Top 0.05% Most-Cited Scientists" list (ScholarGPS Meta Analytics LLC, ranked 125th globally in Mechanical Engineering) and the "World's Best Scientists" list (Research.com, ranked 157th globally, and 19th within Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China, in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering). His significant awards include the National Science and Technology Achievement Award, Du Qinghua Medal and Award for Mechanics and Engineering, Wiley China High Contribution Author Award in Science, the First-class Prize of Natural Science of Hebei Province, and the First-class Prize of Technological Invention of Hebei Province.

Zheng Li is a Professor in the School of Mechanics & Engineering Science at Peking University. Dr. Li earned her Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. in Solid Mechanics from Peking University. Dr. Li held visiting professorship with UMIST, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Pittsburgh, University of Burgundy- ISAT and The University of Sydney. Her research focuses on nondestructive testing methods based on guided waves & vibrations, and metamaterials & phononic crystals for wave manipulation and vibration reduction, and has authored over 120 articles in high-ranking journals (International Journal of Mechanical Science, Composite Structures, Thin-Walled Structures, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Nature Communications, etc.). Her work has earned a 2nd-class Award in Science and Technology Achievement of Chinese Machine and Electricity Ministry, and Jean-Marie Lehn Award in POLY-CHAR 2022.

Dr. Xinlin P. Qing is a Distinguished Professor with the National Recruitment Program of Global Experts in China at Xiamen University, a fellow of AAIS. He currently serves as a Chief Scientist of Aircraft Design Engineering Research Center at Xiamen University, and the Director of Intelligent Sensing and Instrument Collaborative Innovation Center at Fujian Province. He was a Senior Technical Fellow and Director of Department of Aviation Health Management at Beijing Aeronautical Science and Technology Research Institute of COMAC before joining Xiamen University. He was the recipients of the National Invention Award of China, the Innovation Award of Industry-University-Research Cooperation in China, NASA Certificates of Recognition and Initial Awards, the Best Paper Awards of EWSHM and APWSHM. His research interests include Multifunctional Sensor Network, Structural Health Monitoring, Aircraft Health Management, Smart Materials and Structures.

Dr. Rizzo earned a Laurea (5-years degree equivalent to a M.S.) in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Palermo, Italy, and a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of California, San Diego. In Fall 2006, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2012, and six years later to the rank of Full Professor. Dr. Rizzo’s main research interests are in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM). His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Federal Railroad Administration, Association of American Railroads, National Academy of Sciences, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), the IRISE Consortium (University of Pittsburgh), and seed fundings from the University of Pittsburgh.

To date, he authored 135 referred papers, 8 book chapters, 5 conference proceedings volumes, 4 patents, and over 300 among conference proceedings, conference abstracts, and technical reports. Dr. Rizzo was the first person to receive the SHM Person of the Year Award (in 2015) after receiving the Achenbach Medal (in 2012). Both honors are selected by the editors and associate editors of SHM: An International Journal, the top journal on the subject. In 2016, we was honored by the University of Pittsburgh with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Junior Scholar Award. The award includes faculty across the whole University, within 12 years of their Ph.D., who have achieved some international standing. Other accolades include two ASNT Outstanding Paper Awards (in 2013 and 2017) all from the ASNT, which elected him Fellow in 2024. He is one of the very few people that has received two ASNT Outstanding Paper Awards since its inception in the sixties.

Zhanjun Wu is a professor and doctoral supervisor at Dalian University of Technology and Jiangnan University where he serves as the dean of the School of Fiber Engineering and Equipment Technology. He obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology and conducted research as a visiting scholar at Stanford University in the United States. Research directions include composite materials and structures for extreme environments, mechanics of composite structures,structural health monitoring and digital twins. Over the past five years, he has published over 120 papers in high-ranked international journals such as Nature Communications. He has awarded the first prize of Dalian Technology Invention, second prize of China Composite Materials Society Science and Technology Award, and the China Composite Materials Young Scientist Award.