SHORT BIOGRAPHY – Kathleen A. Kramer, PhD, is a professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of San Diego. She received her MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and her BS in Electrical Engineering (with a second major in Physics) magna cum laude from Loyola Marymount University. She has worked as a Member of Technical Staff doing research at several companies including ViaSat, Hewlett Packard and Bell Communications Research. Her teaching interests include signal processing, communications, and capstone design. Her recent course offerings include the electrical engineering senior design sequence, signals and systems, wireless communications, and communication principles.

Author or co-author of over 100 publications, her research interests are in the areas of multi-sensor data fusion, intelligent systems, neural and fuzzy systems. She has recent published journal articles in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, the International Journal of Intelligent Systems, and the Journal of Robotics. The work she authored or co-authored in 2014 was presented at the 10th International Conference on Communications (Bucharest, Romania), the 2014 International Symposium on Communications, Control, and Signal Processing (Athens, Greece), the 2014 International Symposium on Innovations in Intelligent Systems and Applications (Alberobello, Italy) and the 23rd International Conference on Systems Engineering (Las Vegas, NV).

Kathleen A. Kramer currently is President-Elect of IEEE and serves as a member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. A senior member of IEEE, she is a Past Chair of the IEEE San Diego section. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Aerospace Electronic Systems Society and chairs the San Diego IEEE Aerospace Electronic Systems Society San Diego Chapter. She has been recognized by both IEEE and SWE for a variety of leadership activities and was nominated in 2014 for an ATHENA Pinnacle award. She supports San Diego outreach activities such as Expand Your Horizons, FIRST LEGO League and the FIRST Technical Challenge. She is currently chief advisor to the USD chapter of Tau Beta Pi (California Alpha Epsilon) and is a member of other honor societies including IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Pi Sigma, and Alpha Sigma Nu.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY – Vladimiro Miranda is an IEEE Fellow since 2006 and recipient of the IEEE PES Ramakumar Family Renewable Energy Excellence Award 2014. He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Porto. He is President of INESC P&D Brasil, Brazil, and Associate Director of INESC TEC, Portugal. He is also Scientific Advisor for several institutions in Morocco, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, and is Advisor to the Regulatory Authority of Mozambique ARENE. He also served as President or as Advisor to institutions in China (Hong Kong and Macau). Responsible for many projects in Europe, the USA, Brazil, and China (Macau), he served in the Board of start-up companies generated by INESC TEC. His main interest domain has been the application of computational intelligence to power systems, his innovative solutions have been incorporated in industrial products in use in several continents. He is a top-publishing author, ranked among the 1% most cited in his area.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY – Paolo Bonato, Ph.D., serves as Director of the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston MA. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. He holds Adjunct Faculty appointments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the MGH Institute of Health Professions, and Boston University College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. He has held Adjunct Faculty positions at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Northeastern University, University of Ireland Galway, and University of Melbourne. His research work is focused on the development of rehabilitation technologies with special emphasis on wearable technology and robotics. Dr. Bonato served as Founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal on NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. He serves as a Member of the Advisory Board of the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics and as Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine. Also, he serves as Founding Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology. Dr. Bonato served as an Elected Member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) AdCom (2007-2010) and as IEEE EMBS Vice President for Publications (2013-2016). He served as President of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (2008-2010). He received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy in 1989 and the Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering from Universita` di Roma “La Sapienza” in 1995.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY – Francisco Almada Lobo is an Electrical and Computer Engineer from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (1996) and an MBA from Porto Business School (2004). He began his career at the Porto CIM Center as a Researcher, having joined Siemens Semicondutores in 1997. From 1997 to 2009 he held various positions at Siemens, Infineon, and Qimonda, being manager of the Porto Development Center, responsible for factory digitalization projects in the different units of the group. He is co-founder of Critical Manufacturing (2009), having been CEO of the company since 2010. He is also an advisor to several technology startups and advisory board member at Critical Ventures, founding member of Core Angels Porto, member of the executive committee of SEMI Smart Manufacturing Technology Europe and the Forbes Technology Council.