Dr. Yves Bellouard is Associate Professor in Microengineering at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where he heads the Galatea lab and the Richemont Chair in Multi-Scale Manufacturing Technologies. Before joining EPFL in 2015, he was Associate Professor at Eindhoven University of Technologies (TU/e) in the Netherlands and prior to that, Research Scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York. His current research interests are in advanced manufacturing in general and more specifically on laser-based methods to tailor material properties.

Ya Cheng received his BS degree from Fudan University in 1993 and PhD degree from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics in 1998. He is currently the Dean of School of Physics and Materials Science, East China Normal University and a Professor of Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics. He is also the founder and director of XXL- The Extreme Optoelectromachanics Lab in China. His research focuses on ultrafast nonlinear photonics and femtosecond laser micromachining. He has co-authored more than 200 papers in peer reviewed journals which have been cited more than 9,000 times (Database: Web of Science, H-index 47). He is a council member of Chinese Optics Society and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, UK.

Since 2018 Friedhelm Dorsch is a Technology Scout at TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG in Ditzingen (Germany). He observes market trends, evaluates new technologies and assesses their applicability for TRUMPF. 

He joined TRUMPF in 2000 and has held various positions in the laser division. He started with diode laser pump source development at TRUMPF Laser in Schramberg and served as Managing Director at TRUMPF Photonics in Princeton (NJ) in 2005 to 2010, where high power diode lasers are developed and produced. After his return to Germany he headed the Process Sensor group that was in charge of monitoring and controlling laser welding processes.

Before Friedhelm joined TRUMPF he worked for JENOPTIK Laserdiode where he was, in various positions, responsible for diode laser development and production.

Friedhelm holds a Diploma degree in physics of the University of Hamburg (Germany).

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.

Florian Kiefer is currently Head of Product Management Services for TRUMPF Laser- and Systemtechnik GmbH in Germany. He has 11 years of experience in short and ultra short pulsed lasers for industrial and research micro processing applications. Mr. Kiefer has worked with various lasers for developing applications and has held various positions in applied laser processing in the US and Germany. Mr. Kiefer holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Duale-Hochschule Baden-Wuerttemberg of
Germany.

John Lopez was awarded from the French graduate school of Physics and Chemistry of Bordeaux in 1993. He got his PhD on laser ablation of polymers at the University of Bordeaux in 1997. He has a permanent position as a senior research engineer in the French CNRS since 2001 and he is currently working in a public institute in the UNIVERSITY OF BORDEAUX (CELIA laboratory). He is known worldwide as an expert in laser ablation and laser micro machining. His current research topics are metals and transparent material processing, GHz-burst material processing, beam shaping and laser-assisted eye surgery. John Lopez is the author of nearly 30 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 90 proceedings. Furthermore, John Lopez is the President of the French association of industrial laser users called Club Lasers et Procédés since 2010 (CLP); as such he is the general chair of Laser Processing for industry conference (PLI). He is as well involved as an expert ALPhANOV technology center and on the board of PHOTONICS FRANCE. He was highly involved in the creation of ALPhANOV in 2007 and he used to be the Laser Material Processing Business Unit manager in ALPhANOV from 2007 to 2011. He is also a founding member of the French national committee for laser safety. Finally, John Lopez was a member of the LIA Board of Directors from 2017 to 2019.

Dr. E.W. (Ted) Reutzel is Director of Penn State’s Center for Innovative Material Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D), is an Associate Research Professor at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory, and serves as graduate faculty in Penn State’s Engineering Science & Mechanics Department and the Additive Manufacturing & Design Program. Dr. Reutzel has led numerous programs to investigate and implement metal AM, including support for the Navy’s first demonstration of a flight-critical part (Ti6Al4V AM link on the MV-22B Osprey). Current interests include process monitoring for AM process understanding, machine learning for quality control of metal-based AM processes, and process implementation.

Milan Brandt is a professor in Advanced Manufacturing in the School of Engineering, Technical Director Advanced Manufacturing Precinct and Director RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing, RMIT University, Melbourne Australia. Professor Brandt has been involved with lasers and manufacturing technologies professionally for some 36 years and is recognised nationally and internationally as the leading Australian researcher in the field.  He is the recipient of a number of awards and is the author of over 200 publications, 5 book chapters and a book on laser additive manufacturing.  He has also commercialised the results of his research through the companies he has helped establish.  

Professor Brandt is a Fellow and currently an executive member of LIA.  In 2018 he was the president of LIA.  He has had a 33 year association with LIA being involved on the organizing committees for ICALEO and LAM for many years, as well as serving on the LIA Board of Directors. He is also the Senior Editor of JLA in additive manufacture.  Milan Brandt was the 2020 Arthur L. Schawlow Award winner.

Eric Mottay graduated from the Ecole Superieure d'Optique near Paris, the leading institution in France for Optical Engineering. He is the president of Amplitude Laser Group, a company he founded in 2001 and which is now a leading manufacturer of ultrafast lasers for industry and science. In doing so, he developed during the past ten years many scientific and industrial partnerships with research institutions, technology centers and industrial companies. He is passionate about laser technology and applications development and believes that sound engineering and collaborations are the key to success in photonics.

Robert Braunschweig received his MS in 1997 from the School of Advanced Processes in Electronics and Optics (ESPEO) in Orleans, France, with a Major in Lasers and Photonics and has been working in the laser industry since then. Robert has been working with ultrafast lasers and their applications for the past 17 years with positions held at High-Q Lasers (now part of MKS), Amplitude Laser and more recently B-Lasers and LASEA Inc., where he is the General Manager since 2016. Robert has co-authored several papers throughout the years, is a long-time member of the LIA (as well as board member) and has co-chaired the 2017 and 2018 ICALEO Micro-Processing conference. Robert also co-chaired for the 2020 ICALEO Frontiers in Laser Applications conference.