Keynote Speakers
Prof. Marcelo H. ANG Jr, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Biography: Marcelo H. Ang, Jr. received the B.Sc. degrees (Cum Laude) in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management Engineering from the De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines, in 1981; the M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1985; and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, in 1986 and 1988, respectively. His work experience includes heading the Technical Training Division of Intel's Assembly and Test Facility in the Philippines, research positions at the East West Center in Hawaii and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a faculty position as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Rochester, New York. In 1989, Dr. Ang joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the National University of Singapore, where he is currently a professor. He is also the Director of the Advanced Robotics Centre. His research interests span the areas of robotics, mechatronics, and applications of intelligent systems methodologies. He teaches both at the graduate and undergraduate levels in the following areas: robotics; creativity and innovation, and Engineering Mathematics. He is also active in consulting work in robotics and intelligent systems. In addition to academic and research activities, he is actively involved in the Singapore Robotic Games as its founding chairman and the World Robot Olympiad as a member of the Advisory Council.
Prof. Wei-Hsin Liao, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
Biography: Wei-Hsin Liao received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA. Since August 1997, Dr. Liao has been with The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is Choh-Ming Li Professor of Mechanical and Automation Engineering. His research has led to publications of over 380 technical papers and 27 patents. He received the T A Stewart-Dyer/F H Trevithick Prize 2005, the ASME 2017 Best Paper Award in Mechanics and Material Systems, the ASME 2021 Energy Harvesting Best Paper Award, and the ASME 2023 Best Paper Award in Structural Dynamics and Control. He is the recipient of the 2020 ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Award and the 2018 SPIE SSM Lifetime Achievement Award, to recognize his outstanding contributions to the advancement of smart structures and materials. He is also the recipient of 2023 ASME Leonardo Da Vinci Award for the eminent achievement in the design and invention. Dr. Liao currently serves as an Associate Editor for Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, and on the Executive Editorial Board of Smart Materials and Structures. Dr. Liao is a Fellow of ASME, HKIE, and IOP.
Prof. Chiharu Ishii, Hosei University, Japan
Biography: Chiharu Ishii received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Sophia University, Japan in 1997. He worked at Ashikaga Institute of Technology between 1997 and 2002, at Kogakuin University between 2002 and 2009, and at Shibaura Institute of Technology between 2009 and 2010. He has been working at Hosei University since 2010, and currently working as a Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Hosei University. Dr. Chiharu Ishii has received several awards such as The Best Paper Award in the area of Tactile and Haptic Interfaces at the 4th International Conference on Human System Interaction (IEEE HSI 2011); Best Paper Award at the 1st International Conference on Computer Science, Electronics and Instrumentation (ICCSE 2012); Best Presentation Award at the International Conference on Intelligent Mechatronics and Automation (ICIMA 2013); Excellent Oral Presentation Award at the 4th International Conference on Soft Computing & Machine Intelligence (ISCMI 2017); 3rd Prize, Excellent Paper Award at the 2021 IEEE 3rd Global Conference on Life Sciences and Technologies (LifeTech 2021). He is currently a member of IEEE, SICE, JSME, RSJ, IEEJ and JSCAS. His research interests are in medical robotics and assistive technology.