Ashok D. Belegundu has been a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, since 1986. Prior to this, he taught at GMI, now Kettering University, in Michigan. He received his B. Tech. degree from I.I.T. Madras and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. He has been a principal investigator on research projects involving optimization for several agencies including the National Science Foundation, Army Research Office, NASA, SERC (UK), MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation, Gentex Corporation, and Ingersoll-Rand. He has organized two international conferences on optimization in industry and has authored or edited four books and written a chapter in a book. A… detailed list of his publications and projects can be found at http: //www.mne.psu.edu/Directories/Faculty/Belegundu-A.html. He has advised more than fifty graduate students. He has given short courses on finite elements and optimization to the Forging Industry Association, Hazleton Pumps, Infosys (India). He has served as an associate editor for AIAA Journal and for Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines. He teaches a distance education course on optimal design through Penn State.
Tirupathi R. Chandrupatla has been a Professor and Founding Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey since 1995. He received his M.S. degree in design and manufacturing from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He began his career as a design engineer with Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Bangalore. His first teaching post was at I.I.T., Bombay. He has also taught at the University of Kentucky, and GMI Engineering and Management Institute (Kettering University), before joining Rowan. Chandrupatla is author of Introduction to Finite Elements in Engineering, Optimization Concepts and Applications in… Engineering, and Finite Element Analysis for Engineering and Technology. The first book has been translated into Spanish, Korean, Greek, and Chinese languages. Chandrupatla's research interests include design, optimization, manufacturing engineering, finite element analysis, and quality and reliability. He published widely in these areas and serves as a consultant to industry. Chandrupatla is a registered Professional Engineer and also a Certified Manufacturing Engineer. He is a member of ASEE, ASME, SAE, and SME.