Vikram Shyam Editor

Dr. Vikram Shyam is an adjunct professor at the University of Akron in the Mechanical Engineering department. He is also a research aerospace engineer who works as a futurist for NASA. He is the founder of the Virtual Interchange for Nature-Inspired Exploration (V.I.N.E.) at NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center. His interests include artificial intelligence, biomimicry, innovation design and futurology. Dr. Shyam is the recipient of NASA’s Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Dr. Marjan Eggermont is a Teaching Professor and faculty member at the University of Calgary in the Mechanical and Manufacturing department of the Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary. She is also the Academic Director for Sustainable Engineering. Dr. Eggermont teaches in the areas of graphics, engineering design, visualization, and biomimicry. She co-founded and designs Zygote Quarterly (ZQ), an online journal to provide a platform to showcase the nexus of science and design using case studies, news, and articles. In 2005, she was one of the recipients of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Curriculum Innovation Award. She is a former board member of the American Society of Engineering Education. Aloysius F. Hepp earned a PhD in Inorganic Photochemistry in 1983 from MIT. He retired in December 2016 from the Photovoltaic & Electrochemical Systems Branch of the NASA Glenn Research Center. Dr. Hepp has co-authored nearly 200 publications (including six patents) focused on processing of thin film and nanomaterials for I-III-VI solar cells, Li-ion batteries, integrated power devices and flight experiments, and precursors and spray pyrolysis deposition of sulfides and carbon nanotubes. He has co-edited twelve books on advanced materials processing, energy conversion and electronics, biomimicry and aerospace technologies. He is currently Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing (MSSP) and is currently the chair of the International Advisory Board of MSSP, as well as serving on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Mater. Sci. and Engin. B and Heliyon - all Elsevier journals.