Vadim Utkin is one of the originators of the concepts of Variable Structure Systems and Sliding Mode Control. Author of five books and more than 300 technical papers, he was awarded the Lenin Prize (the highest scientific award in the former Soviet Union) and was Ford Chair of Electromechanical Systems from 1994 to 2002 at the Ohio State University.

Jüergen Guldner received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Clemson University, South Carolina and a Ph.D. in Controls and Robotics from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). He is currently with BMW Manufacturing Co. in Greenville-Spartanburg, SC, preparing the production launch of BMW’s first Active Hybrid Vehicle.

Jingxin Shi graduated from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has worked as visiting scholar and research engineer (permanent employee) for the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Institute for Robotics and System Dynamics. He was one of the key engineers of German-D2 space robotic program ROTEX (Robot Technology Experiment) which flew aboard U.S. space shuttle Columbia in 1993.