Mohammad Modarres is Director, Center for Risk and Reliability and the Nicole Y. Kim Eminent Professor of Engineering, University of Maryland; M.S. (1977) and PhD (1980) in Nuclear Engineering from MIT, and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering also from MIT (1977). He has more than 400 papers in archival journals and proceedings of conferences, including several books and textbooks in various areas of nuclear safety, risk and reliability engineering. He is a University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and a fellow of the American Nuclear Society.

Mehdi Amiri is an adjunct professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, George Mason University; M.S. (2006) in Mechanical Engineering from University of Tehran, Iran and PhD (2011) in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University (LSU). His main research interests include materials, failure prediction through simulation-based modeling of the microstructural defects, with current emphases on additively manufactured materials, and nondestructive evaluation and testing.

Christopher Jackson is the Acting Director of the Centre of Reliability and Resilience Engineering at the B. John Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles. He graduated with a PhD (2011) and MS (2007) in Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland, a Masters of Military Studies (2012) from the Australian National University, and a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical 2001) from the University of New South Wales. His current research thrusts revolve around Bayesian analysis, big data analysis and complex system modelling.