Dr. Seemesh Bhaskar is a Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA. He completed his Ph.D. from STAR Lab, Central Research Instruments Facility (CRIF), SSSIHL, and postdoctoral studies from NanoStructured Materials (NSM) group, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay. He has pursued research internships at SASTRA University and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, as part of the DST-Inspire program. He is the recipient of the prestigious DST-Inspire scholarship & fellowship, AWSAR, K. V. Rao Scientific Society (KVRSS), Young Achiever, M.Sc. Chemistry Gold medal and All-rounder Gold medal awards. His research work focuses on building effective nano-engineering protocols for photo-plasmonic biosensing at advanced interfaces comprising sustainable bioinspired polymeric hybrids.Shivakiran Bhaktha B. N. received his Master of Science (Physics) from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, India, in 2003, and his Ph.D. from the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, India, in 2006. As part of his post-doctoral fellowship, he has visited various laboratories including Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, France; CNR-IFN, CSMFO Lab., Italy; LPMC-CNRS, France; and TIFR, India. Some of his primary research interests include random lasers, photonic crystals, plasmonics, glass photonics, optofluidics, micro-resonators, nonlinear optics, photonic devices, and sensors. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India.Maurizio Ferrari received his Doctorate in Physics from Trento University, Italy, in 1979/1980. He worked at the Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Matériaux Luminescents, France, until 1989 before joining the CNR in Trento. He served as Director of Research at the Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, CNR, heading the CSMFO Lab and IFN-CNR Trento unit until December 31, 2021. Since July 1, 2022, he has been a Senior Associate at CNR-IFN, Italy.He has been Editor of Optical Materials (2013-2023) and Associate Editor of Optical Engineering (2010-2021) and Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids (2011-2023). Currently, he is an Editorial Board member of Ceramics and Associate Editor of Ceramics International. His research in Glass Photonics covers the properties, structure, and processing of glasses, crystals, and films for optical applications; energy transfer; optical and spectroscopic properties; integrated optics; nanocomposite materials; and confined structures such as photonic crystals, waveguides, microcavities, and microresonators. Apparao M. Rao joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University, USA, in 2000. He currently serves as the Robert A. Bowen Endowed Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University and the founding Director of the Clemson Nanomaterials Institute (CNI). He developed Raman spectroscopy into a versatile tool for characterizing carbon nanomaterials. He pioneered the liquid-injection-based synthesis methods for carbon nanotubes. Because of his sustained research in nanomaterials and for building competitiveness in the State of South Carolina, the Governor of South Carolina, the Honorable Nikki Haley, conferred on him in 2014 the State’s highest honor - the Governor’s Award for excellence in scientific research. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Association for Advancement of Science, the Material Research Society, and the National Academy of Inventors. Rao is the first and only faculty member in the State of South Carolina to earn Fellow status in the MRS. He is an adjunct professor at the SSSIHL, India, where he initiated a nanomaterials program, and he continues to direct research projects for M.S. and Ph.D. students at SSSIHL. He is also the Brahm Prakash Visiting Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India.Brian T. Cunningham completed his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, and was a postdoctorate scientist at Sandia National Laboratory, USA. He is currently a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the university following a 15-year career in industry. His technical focus is the utilization of photonics for biosensing in applications that include life science research, diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and pharmaceutical screening. Dr. Cunningham serves as the Director of the Center for Genomic Diagnostics at the Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and as a Program Leader for the Cancer Center at Illinois, focusing on Cancer Measurement Technology and Data Science. He has received several honors, including the Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award, the Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence, the George Anner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award, Medical Scholars Program Outstanding Advisor Award, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Bronze Tablet.
