Prof.Dr. Daniela Popescu, Vice Rector

Professor Daniela Popescu, Ph.D., Eng., is Vice Rector of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, since 2016. In her role, she oversees university management, spearheads European projects, and fosters relations with enterprises. Professor Popescu deliver the lectures of Digital Production at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Robotics, where she significantly contributes to the academic and research landscape through her expertise in industrial engineering. As an esteemed PhD supervisor, she guides research in digitalization, virtual reality, modeling, and simulation, fields where she has authored numerous scientific papers and led cutting-edge research projects. Her leadership extends beyond academia, having directed or participated in several European Research -funded projects focused on e-manufacturing, digital innovation hubs, and artificial intelligence. Professor Popescu's management prowess is further demonstrated through her previous roles, including department head and faculty dean. Her tenure has been marked by the successful initiation and implementation of various European Union projects aimed at enhancing competitiveness, human resource development, and regional operational programs. She has been instrumental in promoting an entrepreneurial university culture, facilitating expertise and sector-oriented mentoring to support entrepreneurial endeavors among students, faculty, and staff. Her collaboration with enterprises has initiated innovative technological projects, establishing partnerships that serve as a conduit for local ecosystem connections and synergies. Professor Popescu is deeply committed to advancing diversity and inclusion within the technology sector, with a particular focus on supporting Women in Technology. Her multifaceted contributions to academia, research, and industry collaboration underscore her dedication to excellence and innovation in engineering and technology.

email: daniela.popescu@muri.utcluj.ro

Phone number:

Technical University Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Str. Memorandumului nr. 28

Jan Torgersen is Chair of Materials Science at the School of Engineering and Design at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Head of the Materials Testing Office for Mechanical Engineering. Torgersen studied Industrial and Mechanical Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), where he graduated from the Institute for Materials Science with a degree in engineering (Dipl.- Ing.) in 2010 and received his doctorate in technical sciences (Dr. techn.) in 2013. He pioneered the fabrication of hydrogels using two-photon lithography, a high-resolution lithography-based additive manufacturing technology that can be used to produce three-dimensional devices over multiple length scales, from sub 100 nm to the cm scale. His interest in the interplay between the nanoscale and the mesoscale brought him to Stanford University, where he worked at the Nanoscale Prototyping Laboratory (NPL) on materials for energy conversion and storage starting early 2014. He focused on thin film components such as capacitors for DRAM production, buffer layers for solar cells and catalytic layers for fuel cells. In 2016, he was appointed Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where he continued his work at the interface between surface functionality and device topology. He worked on metallic biomaterials, specifically on reducing stress corrosion cracking of Mg alloys and on surface and topology optimization to improve the biological properties of Ti-based implants. He also dealt with the topology optimization of lens arrays to increase the efficiency of components for energy conversion, in particular solar cells, and fuel cells, for which tailored manufacturing processes based on lithography and thin-film technology were developed. In 2020 he habilitated at NTNU and was appointed to TUM in 2022, where Torgersen continues his work in the field of creating and optimizing materials for energy conversion and storage. Technical University of Munich

email: jan.torgersen@tum.de

Phone number:

Technical University of Munich TUM School of Engineering and Design

Boltzmannstr. 15 85748 Garching, GERMANY

Dr. RAMAZAN ASMATULU

Department of Mechanical Engineering Wichita State University 1845 Fairmount Street Wichita, KS 67260-0133 (316) 978-6368 (O) ramazan.asmatulu@wichita.edu

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Balázs Barta graduated as an economist at the Budapest University of Economics. He had executive management studies at Wharton (USA) and Insead (France). It was followed by a PhD, that he earned summa cum laude at Material Science and Engineering Institute of University of West Hungary. He started to work at a multinational company in various positions, up to Trade Marketing Director. In 2007 he established Pannon Business Network, that is a research transfer organization. Digital innovation hub of PBN was founded in 2017, that is called am-LAB. As a result of constant development, it was awarded the best DIH in Europe in 2021. In 2020 an additional division was established, where the focus is on digitalization in social care. Under his management 105 international research and partnership projects have been implemented with over 500 European partners. He holds multiple positions, like member of the advisory board of EIT Manufacturing East GmbH in Vienna, national representative at the Chamber of Industry and Trade, Working Group leader for Artificial Intelligence in the Danube Region. Fax: +36 94 505 004

Phone: +36 94 505 003

Web: www.pbn.hu

Mobile: +36 30 915 03 40

Office: Hungary, H-9700 Szombathely Zanati street 32-36.