Dr. Kota Harinarayana, Distinguished Scientist & Programme Director, LCA was born in Berhampur in 1943, graduated from BHU in Mechanical Engineering, and obtained graduation in Aero-Engineering from IISc, Bangalore. He did his PhD at IIT, Mumbai, and holds Bachelors degree in Law.

Dr. Harinarayana started his career in 1967 at HAL and was at DRDO Headquarter, during 1970-1982. He re-joined HAL in 1982 as Chief Designer, Nasik Division and was deputed to DRDO in 1985 as Director, ADE, Bangalore. He was appointed as Programme Director, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) in December 1985 and was concurrently holding the post of Director, ADE till June 1986. During 1995 he was elevated to Distinguished Scientist by DRDO.

He is the Fellow of Aeronautical Society of India (former President of the Society), National academy of sciences and Indian National Academy of Engineering. He was formerly Vice-Chancellor of University of Hyderabad till 15 July, 2005. He received distinguished alumnus award from Aerospace Department, IISc, Bangalore in 1993 and from IIT, Mumbai in 1995. He is recipient of the National Aeronautics Prize, FIE Foundation Award-1996 and SBI-Pragna Puraskar-2001. He received the Dr. Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award for 2001. He received the DRDO Technology Leadership Award for 2001. He was honoured with Padma Shri by Government of India in 2002. He received Gujar Mal Modi Science foundation award for the year 2006.Indian National Academy of Engineering conferred up on him ,the life time contribution award in engineering, for the year 2006. He was awarded Shri Om Prakash Bhasin award for Science & Technology for the year 2007 in the field of engineering including Energy & Aerospace. He received DRDO life time achievement award in 2008. Berhampur university conferred on him honorary doctorate in the year 2008.

Dr. Harinarayana played a key role in life extension and determination of components of MiG 21 aircraft, and indigenization of components, spares, consumables of aircraft during his tenure as Chief Resident Engineer, Nasik. New Aerodynamic Device Vortex Plate was flight-tested on a MiG 21 aircraft for the first time in the world. Under his guidance as Programme Di rector and Chief Designer of LCA, he successfully directed the project leading to flight testing and clearance for limited series production.

Ashish Khare received M.Sc. (Computer Science) and Ph.D. degree both from University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India, in 1999 and 2007 respectively. He did his post-doctoral research from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Korea, in 2007–2008. Presently he is working as an Associate Professor inComputer Science at Department of Electronics and Communication, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India.His research interests include applications of wavelet transforms, computer vision, cyber security and human behaviour understanding. He has worked as Principal Investigator of research projects funded by UGC and DST.He has supervised a number of Ph.D. students and has published three books, four book chapters and more than 125 research papers in reputed international journals and conference proceedings. He has delivered several invited talks in conferences and faculty development programs in India and abroad. He has also served as Guest Editorof reputed international SCI and Scopus indexed journals. He has also served as Honorary Secretary, IETE, Allahabad, India.

Dr. Ashish Kumar Maurya has completed his M.Tech degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India, and Ph.D. from Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (B.H.U.) Varanasi, India. He is currently working as an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, India. He is engaged in teaching and research since 2007. He has authored many research papers in various peer-reviewed journals (including IEEE Transactions, Elsevier, Springer, and Wiley) and conference proceedings. He has served in several program committees of national and international conferences, journals and workshops. He is an active member of IEEE and a Life member of Computer Society of India. His research interests include Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Parallel & Distributed Computing, Cloud Computing, Internet-of-Things, and Energy-aware Scheduling.

Manoj Kumar Meshram was born in Balaghat (MP), India, in 1971. He received the B.E. degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and the M.E. degree in Microwave Engineering from Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, India, and the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electronics Engineering, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, in the year 1994, 1998, and 2001, respectively.

From 1999-2001, he was a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Electronics Engineering, Institute of Technology, BHU, Varanasi, where he carried out his research work on microstrip array antenna and ferrite devices. In August 2001, he joined as Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Dehradun Institute of Technology, Dehradun, India, where he carried out his research work on microstrip antenna and MMIC. In July 2002, he joined as a Lecturer in the Department of Electronics Engineering, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, where he is working as Associate Professor presently. He received INSA (Indian National Science Academy) Fellowship 2008-09 from Govt. of India to visit South Korea under Bilateral Exchange program in which he joined Hanyang University (Electronics and Computer Division), South Korea and worked on the design and development of antenna for WCDMA and Wi-Fi repeater. In the year 2010, he has been awarded the BOYSCAST (Better Opportunity to Young Scientist in Chosen Area of Science and Technology) fellowship for one year for conducting advance research at McMaster University (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, with Prof. Natalia K. Nikolova, where he was engaged in design and development of UWB and MIMO antennas. Recently, he has awarded INSA-DFG Fellowship 2017 from German Research Foundation to carry out research activities in Germany under Bilateral Exchange Program.

His research interests include microwave and millimeter wave technolgy, metamaterial, reconfigurable antennas, frequency scanning antenna for radar system, microstrip antenna, UWB antennas, MIMO antennas for handheld devices, Meta tapered slot antenna, ferrites, MMIC, and microwave imaging. He has published about 100 papers in International Journals. He is in the reviewer’s list of several reference journals in India and abroad. He is expert member of the project review committee of the Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), India. He has successfully executed the project entitled “Design and Development of Wide Band Vivaldi Antenna Array for Airborne Applications” for the transfer of technology under the CARS scheme of DARE, and it is being processed for batch production by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bengaluru.

He has a founder and Secretary of the society named Academic Society of Science Engineering and Technology, India. He is also a founder and Managing Editor of the Journal “International Journal of Advancement of Microwave Technology). Dr. Meshram is a Senior Member of the IEEE, member ofI ndian Science Congress Association, India, Life Member of Indian Society of Technical Education (ISTE), India, and a Life Member of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), India. He is a recipient of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award2015 (appreciated under Technology-Edge category) during the Festival of Innovation on 8th March, 2015 at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. He received the Best Paper Award during the 87th session of the Indian Science Congress Association in January 2000 at Pune University, Pune, India.

Dr. Rajesh Gupta is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj. Dr. Gupta is a Senior Member of IEEE. He received the Bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the Madan Mohan Malviya Engineering College, Gorakhpur, India, in 1993, Master’s degree in Control System from the Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, India, in 1995, and the Ph.D. degree in the area of Power Electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in 2007. From 1995 to 1996 he worked in Inst. of Engg. and Tech. Lucknow, and from 1996 to 1999, he worked in Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Pauri Garhwal, thereafter he joined MNNIT. At present he is also looking after Electrical Machine Laboratory, and President, Student Activity Center, at MNNIT. He has total teaching, research and administrative experience of arround total 24 years.

His research interests include Power Conversion of renewable energy resources, Solar PV and Wind energy systems, Power Electronics converters and its Control, Power Quality, Digital controllers etc. He guided 10-Ph.D. and 45 Masters Students. He is a Principal Investigator for the research projects sponsored by various ministries including DST, SERB, CSIR and MNRE, in the area of Solar PV systems, Bidirectional converters, Hybrid renewable energy and microgrid.

Dr. Gupta is a regular reviewer for many IEEE TRANSCATIONS and IET Journals. He published about 100 papers in reputed International Journals and Conferences. Dr. Gupta has filed one patent in the area of Multilevel Bidirectional DC-DC Converter.

Dr. Gupta has served as Vice-Chairman and Secretary, in the IEEE Uttar Pradesh Section and IEEE Joint Chapter of IE/PEL/CS. He is a recipient of 2013 IEEE Outstanding Branch Counselor Award of Region-10 of IEEE. He is also recipient of 2014 IEEE Outstanding Volenteer Award of IEEE Uttar Pradesh Section. Two of his Ph.D. students and two Masters students have won POSOCO awards sponsored by Power Grid Corporation of India, in association with IIT Delhi. He has travelled many countries under University exchange programs and attending the conferences, including, USA, Canada, France, Sweden, China, Poland, Turkey, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Portugal etc.

Dr. Saifullah Khalid is an experienced specialist working in the fields of optimization algorithms, air traffic management, aircraft system, active power filter, and innovation. He currently holds the post of Manager(Air Traffic management) at CCS Airport, Lucknow, India and Head of R&D Lucknow division at Civil Aviation Research Organization, Hyderabad, India. Dr Khalid’s background is in development of novel optimization algorithms. He has developed three novel optimization algorithms Adaptive Spider Net search Algorithm (ASNS), Adaptive Mosquito Blood Search Algorithm (AMBS) and Adaptive blanket body cover search algorithm (ABBC). He knows Python, C++ and MATLAB/Simulink. He has received the best paper award in National Conference on Technological Revolution in Electrical Engineering 2014 (TREE-14), held at GBPEC, Pauri, UK, INDIA.

He is Fellow Member, Universal Association of Computer & Electronics Engineers (UACEE), USA, Franklin Member of London Journals Press, London, Senior Member of International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology (IACSIT), Singapore, International Association of Engineers (IAENG), and IEEE.

In recent years, Dr. Khalid has been extensively involved in research on understanding the role and impact of novel optimization algorithms in active power filters, aircraft systems, and air traffic surveillance systems. Dr Khalid is leading the project, “Incorporation of traffic resolution advisories made by Local ATCOs of the Station in INDRA system” under civil aviation research organization, India. Another project, “Generation of Electricity using Wind Energy Produced by Jet Blast of Aircraft for only Departure Runways” is in the initial process and yet to get approval from the committee of civil aviation research organization, India.

Also, Dr Khalid has extensive experience as a reviewer for academic journals, research agencies, government departments, and industrial bodies. Dr Khalid has published around 100 research papers in various International Journals and Conferences including IEEE, Elsevier, Springer, and many others. He has authored four books, edited two books and contributed four Chapters in edited books.

Dr. Mirgender Kumar received Ph.D. degree from Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi. He earned B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the M .J. R. University, Bareilly and M. Tech. from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidalaya, Indore in 2003, 2006 and 2009 respectively. Dr. Kumar worked as researcher in THz Photonics group of National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology Laboratory, Scoula Normale Superiore, Pisa during January-December, 2010. Presently, He is working as an assistant professor in Yeungnam University, Republic of Korea. His current area of research belongs to theoretical and experimental finding on new semiconductor materials and Opto-and Microelectronic devices along with THz FET based devices. He has published more than 40 research articles in peer reviewed international journals and conference proceedings.

Yogesh Kumar, a distinguished alumnus from Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh and IIT Madras, is a renowned technologist in the field of Aircraft and Aircraft systems.

During his career (all in R&D) at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) he has successfully led a number of major R&D programmes; notable amongst those was the India’s pride the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). He also led the Design teams for development of Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), and major upgrade of Jaguar aircraft; both done in record time. He also led a team at Lucknow which did pioneering work on development of a number of Systems and Accessories (about 100 in number) for various aircraft. He and his team also developed a pilot plant for Alternate Energy system for power generation using organic fluid based turbine.

Author of about 24 Scientific and Technical papers and over 50 keynote addresses and lectures to reputed organizations, Yogesh Kumar is a proud recipient of following National/International awards;
• Noel Derr Gold Medal – 1987 (based on his work related to alternate energy systems)
• National acclamation Prize – 1988
• National Aeronautical Prize – 2000
• Scientist of the Year Award – 2001
• International Project Management Award – 2005; considered an ‘Oscar’ in Project Management.
• Raksha Mantri Award for Import Substitution - 2006
• Sammana Patra by Karnataka State-2005
• Life Time Achievement Award – 2006
• Distinguished Alumnus Award of Excellence from Punjab Engineering College - Nov.2019

Yogesh Kumar has also authored a Book titled “Lead and Execute- Art of Managing Large Scale Projects”. It was formally launched on 18th Dec. 2014 at HAL Management Academy, Bangalore. It evoked very good response with about 640 sold to various aerospace organizations (Public and Private), R&D Labs, Academic Institutes, and aeronautical enthusiasts in a short period of about two years from its launch.

Yogesh Kumar is a Fellow, Aeronautical Society of India and was Member, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

After superannuating from HAL where he was Member of the Board as Director (LCA) in Sept. 2006, he is currently working as Adviser to NAL/CSIR; a Govt. of India Research and Development Organization in Aerospace.

Prof. Rajkumar S. Pant has Bachelors, Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering. His areas of specialization include Aircraft Conceptual Design, Air Transportation, and Optimization. He has been a member of faculty of Aerospace Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay since December 1989.

Prof. Pant is an alumnus of College of Aeronautics, Cranfield University, UK, where he earned his Ph.D. under Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme, and IIT Madras, where he did his Masters in Aeronautical Engineering. He has also worked for five years in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the Design & Engineering Department at Kanpur (3.5 years) and Nasik (1.5 years) Divisions.

In 2002, he set up a Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) systems laboratory at IIT Bombay, which has undertaken several R&D and Consultancy projects related to design, development and demonstration of LTA systems. Since 2007, he has been an international member of AIAA’s Lighter-Than-Air Technical Committee, and currently is its Chairperson for 2014-16. He has published and presented ~210 scientific papers, of which ~ 160 are in international journals and conferences. He has also visited several top ranking Institutes and Universities all over the world.

Prof. Pant has been a Visiting Professor at School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for a year in 2016. Earlier, he was appointed as a Special Visiting Researcher during 2012-15 under the Science Without Borders program of the Brazilian Government for a project related to design and development of Hybrid Lighter-Than-Air systems. He has been a visiting faculty at Department of Aerospace & Ocean Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2010-11, and a visiting researcher at Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, Brazil in 2012, Texas A&M University in 2011, Cambridge University in 2008, and Imperial College London in 2006. He was an Adjunct Faculty at Department of Aerospace & Automobile Engineering, MIT, Manipal University during 2009-10, and is a regular visitor to various institutions and colleges to interact with their students and faculty members.

Dr. Asheesh K. Singh is affiliated to the Department of Engineering/Electrical Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology. Dr. Asheesh K. Singh is currently providing services as Professor . Dr. Asheesh K. Singh has published numerous publications in various national and international peer-reviewed journals and presented scientific papers across the world. Because of the active association with different societies and academies as well as the contributions, Dr. Asheesh K. Singh is been recognized by the subject experts around the world. Dr. Asheesh K. Singh contributions are appreciated by various reputed awards. Dr. Asheesh K. Singh clinical and scientific research interests include Power Quality, Power System, AI Applications in Power System.