Eric Mottay graduated from Institut d'Optique near Paris.  ‌In 2001, he founded Amplitude in Bordeaux, France. Under a technology transfer from the University of Bordeaux, and starting from a scientific proof of concept, he developed Amplitude into the leading industrial ultrafast laser manufacturer that it is today. He has presented more than 40 contributions at ICALEO since 2006, is the current General Chair of ICALEO, a fellow of the LIA and a member of the Board of Trustees. He strongly believes that sound engineering and collaborations are the keys to success in Photonics.

 

Thierry Marchione is presently Senior Engineering Specialist at Caterpillar’s Research and Advanced Engineering organization. With more than 35 years of experience in the laser material processing, he has been a pioneer, an advocate, an interface with the industry and an everlasting enthusiast for laser technology. 

His early involvement in laser cladding and additive manufacturing allow him to successfully develop, transfer and implement this specialty for diverse companies sizes and industries types.

Thierry holds a B.S. in Optics and a M.S in Photonic Laser materials processing from University of Strasbourg, France. He has authored over 15 technical papers, and currently holds 25 patents.

Prof. Wudy's research area is laser-based additive manufacturing with plastics and metals. The research focuses on innovative process strategies, quality management in additive manufacturing, hybrid additive manufacturing, and novel applications. Prof. Wudy studied plastics and rubber engineering at the University of Applied Science Würzburg-Schweinfurt and finished her PhD at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in the field of powder and beam-based additive manufacturing in 2017. From 2015 to 2019, Prof. Wudy headed the "Additive Manufacturing" working group at the Institute of Polymer Technology and was Managing Director of the CRC 814 "Additive Manufacturing" at the FAU. In 2019, Prof. Wudy was appointed as Assistant Professor for laser-based Additive Manufacturing at the TUM. Prof. Wudy is committed to establishing a collaborative framework between academia and industry, which is essential for advancing additive manufacturing technologies. By fostering partnerships, sharing expertise, and jointly tackling challenges, we can accelerate innovation, enhance knowledge transfer, and drive the seamless integration of cutting-edge research findings into practical industrial applications.

Klaus Kleine, currently working at Coherent Inc. as a Senior Director of Applications, is responsible for the management of the global application lab organization at Coherent. Coherent is specialized in the development and production of lasers for industrial and scientific applications. Prior to his assignment with Coherent, Dr. Kleine worked at Laserline as the General Manager for US operations, Guidant, Tsunami Optics, Iridex Corp, DuPont and the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology. Dr. Kleine holds a PhD from the University of Liverpool and MS (Dipl. Ing.) from the Aachen University of Applied Science in Germany. Klaus Kleine holds 20+ patents in laser development, laser processing and medical device design.

Fanrong Kong graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Southern Methodist University with a Ph.D. degree in 2009. He joined ESAB as senior applications engineer of hybrid laser welding in 2013. Currently, he is global process manager of laser welding at ESAB Global Automation and manager of ESAB Advanced Joining Center at SMU. His research interests are focused on the fundamental study and industrial applications of high-power laser materials processing. He has published about 100 peer-reviewed articles and 3 book chapters.

Andrés Fabián Lasagni received an MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from National Comahue University, Argentina, in 2002 and a PhD degree in Materials Science from Saarland University, Germany in 2006. From 2007 to 2008, he was a Research Scientist and Alexander von Humboldt Fellow with the Georgia Institute of Technology. From 2008 to 2017, he was a Group Leader with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS. Since 2012, he is a professor at the Institute of Manufacturing Technology, at the Technische Universität Dresden, and since 2017 is Director of the Center for Advanced Micro-Photonics (CAMP), in cooperation with Frauhnofer IWS. His research interests include the development of functionalized surfaces using laser-based fabrication methods, optical devices for high-throughput laser texturing and recently also in-line monitoring systems. He is the author of more than 300 articles and 30 patents. Prof. Lasagni’s awards and honors include the Fritz-Grasenick-Prize (Austrian Society for Electron Microscopy), the Werner Köster Prize (DGM), the German High Tech Champion in Photovoltaic Award (BMBF), the Masing Gedächtnispreis (DGM), the Materials Science and Technology Prize (FEMS) and the Berthold Leibinger Award (2nd prize).

Gwenn Pallier is an Optical Engineer. She graduated from the Institut d'Optique in Paris in 2010. She has worked in the defense industry for Qioptiq in Singapore as a test engineer, for the space industry within the Thales group as an Optical Engineer and Project manager, and in the LIDAR industry for Lumibird as a Product Line Manager. Gwenn is now Product Line Manager at Cailabs in charge of the development of beam-shaping products for laser material processing applications, which includes both micro and macro-processing.

Jared Speltz is the Team Lead for the Laser Manufacturing Technology Development team at the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI). He specializes in laser manufacturing applications utilizing ultrafast laser processes and technology. His work includes developing novel applications utilizing ultrashort pulsed lasers (USPL) and has built multiple high power femtosecond systems including the Composite Laser Ablation for Composite Preparation (CLASP) system. Prior to joining UDRI in 2017, Mr. Speltz worked at a small business for 6 years in laser manufacturing, not only researching and developing of novel laser processes, but also working to optimize those developments to be used on a production scale.

Klaus Löffler is Managing Director at Precitec GmbH. He graduated from the IFSW University of Stuttgart. Since 1991 he is active in the laser industry starting as a laser development engineer. Many successful industrial laser applications in the industry have been based on his involvement. His driving force is the cooperation between research institutions and industrial end users on a global base to bring ideas into usable products in a fast way. He started his involvement with LIA in 1997 as a long-term member of the Executive Board and Advisory Board and has been President in 2013. He founded the LIA Running Club and is a Fellow of the LIA.

Sophie Grabmann is head of the Department of Battery Production and a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management. She graduated with a Master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Munich. The research activities of the Department of battery production focus on the production of innovative battery cells. The core of the work is the process development and the optimization of all processes within battery production. Sophie Grabmann investigates the application of laser technologies in the field of lithium-ion battery production. Her work underlines the importance of laser manufacturing technologies for the successful production of energy storage systems.

Andreas Michalowski studied physics at the Technical University of Dortmund, graduating with a diploma degree. He then worked as a research assistant at the IFSW, focusing on materials processing with ultrashort laser pulses, which was also the thematic focus of his doctorate. In 2011 he started at Bosch Research as a scientist and was responsible for process fundamentals and simulation for machining with ultrashort pulses. Since 2018 he was the senior expert responsible for virtual process development and later additionally for hybrid modeling (physics + machine learning) for laser material processing.

Since August 2022 Andreas Michalowski is a professor at the IFSW at the University of Stuttgart, focusing on laser technology in manufacturing. This professorship was newly established within the framework of the InnovationCampus Future Mobility.

Prof. Dr. Carlo Holly is professor of Optical Technologies at the RWTH Aachen University. He and his chair, the chair for Technology of Optical Systems TOS, work in close collaboration with the Fraunhofer-Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen, where he is also head of the department Data Science and Measurement Technology. His areas of research include optical systems, computational optics, EUV-technology, artificial intelligence in photonics, and digital photonic production. Prof. Holly received the diploma in mechanical engineering, the B. Sc. in physics and the M. Sc. in theoretical particle physics, as well as the Ph.D. degree (Dr. rer. nat.) from RWTH Aachen University. In 2017 he joined TRUMPF Photonics in Princeton, USA, where he worked on the development of high-power semiconductor lasers. In 2020, as Head of R&D Photonics he worked on optical systems and photonics integration for non-invasive glucose measurement devices at DiaMonTech AG in Berlin. In 2021 Prof. Holly became full-time professor at the RWTH Aachen University.