Dr. Ramin S. Esfandiari is a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, as well as his M.A. and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics (Optimal Control), from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has authored several refereed research papers in high-quality engineering and scientific journals, such as the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Journal of Sound and Vibration, Optimal Control Applications and Methods, and the ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics. He is the author of Numerical Methods for Engineers and Scientists Using MATLAB, Second Edition (Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, 2017); Applied Mathematics for Engineers, Fifth Edition (Atlantis, 2007); Matrix Analysis and Numerical Methods for Engineers (Atlantis, 2007); and the MATLAB Manual for Advanced Engineering Mathematics (Atlantis, 2007). Dr. Esfandiari is one of the selected few contributing authors for the Mechanical Engineering Handbook (Springer-Verlag, 2009), and co-author (with Dr.H.V.Vu) of Dynamic Systems: Modeling and Analysis (McGraw-Hill, 1997). He is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards, including two Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Awards, the TRW Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship Award, and the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award.

Dr. Bei Lu is a professor in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU), China. Before joining STJU in 2017, she was a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Lu received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Power and Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China in 1996 and 1999, respectively, and her Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC) in 2004. Her main research interests include robust control, linear parameter-varying control of nonlinear systems, and application of advanced control and optimization techniques to aerospace, mechanical and electromechanical engineering problems. She has published nearly 40 research papers in high-quality and recognized journals such as the AIAA Journal of Guidance and Control, Control and Dynamics, the IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Automatica, Systems and Control Letters, and in international conference proceedings. She is also the recipient of the Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award, 2011.