Prof. Antonio H. Castro Neto

National University of Singapore, Singapore  

Prof. Antonio H. Castro Neto got his Ph.D. in Physics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1994. His thesis studied the fundamentals of the theory of metals. In 1994, he moved to the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara as a postdoctoral fellow where he dedicated his attention to low dimensional materials such as high temperature superconductors and conducting polymers. In 1995, he became an Assistant Professor at University of California at Riverside where he wrote fundamental work on the theory of disordered magnetic materials. In 2000, he moved to Boston University as Professor of Physics. At Boston, Prof. Castro Neto became one of the leading theorists in the study of graphene and other two dimensional materials. Since 2010, Prof. Castro Neto is the Director of the Graphene Research Center and in 2014 he became Director of the Centre for Advanced 2D Materials funded by the National Research Foundation of Singapore.
Prof. Castro Neto is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Material Science Engineering and Physics, he is also Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at the National University of Singapore. In 2003, Prof. Castro Neto was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and in 2011 he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is the Colloquia Editor for Reviews of Modern Physics, and member of the Editorial Board of “Chinese Physics B” and “Acta Physica Sinica”.
Prof. Castro Neto was awarded the 11th Ross J. Martin Award by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the University of California Regent Fellowship; the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship; the visiting Miller Professorship by the University of California, Berkeley; the visiting Gordon Godfrey Professorship by the University of New South Wales, Australia; the Distinguished Visiting Chair Professor at the SKKU Advanced Institute of Nano-Technology (SAINT), South Korea; the Hsun Lee Lecture Award by the Institute of Metal Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Kramers Professorship at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

 Prof. Kwang Leong Choy

Duke Kunshan University, China  

Kwang Leong Choy [D.Phil. (Oxon), DSc] is the Professor of Materials Science at Duke Kunshan University (DKU). Prior to this, she was a Professor of Materials Discovery and the founding Director of the UCL Institute for Materials Discovery at University College London (UCL). She also held a Chair in Materials, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham (2002-2014), where she was the Research Director of the University Innovation Centre and University’s Knowledge Exchange Board. Professor Choy earned her D.Phil. in Materials Science from the University of Oxford, where she was awarded the Hetherington Prize and Oxford Metallurgical Society Award. Additionally, she has received accolades such as the Grunfeld Medal Prize and Kroll Medal & Prize. She has been awarded the Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals (FIMMM) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). She has authored over 300 publications, including 4 books and 20 patents, given over 150 keynote papers/invited lectures and conference session Chairman. She also helped to establish two university spin-out companies. Her expertise has been recognized through Guest Professorships at the University of Uppsala (2001/03), Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE, 2010/2012), and a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientist (2011/2013). She is leading a multidisciplinary research team and collaborating closely with material engineers, chemists, physicists, bioengineers, nanobiotechnologists, and engineers to create new opportunities in materials creation, discovery and utilization. Her team focuses on developing high-performance, eco-friendly, and cost-effective processes for the production of new nanostructured materials, nanocomposites, thin films, and coatings. These materials find applications in various fields, including solar cells, clean energy generation, energy storage, electrical systems, optoelectronics, environmental sustainability, healthcare, and biomedicine. Professor Choy has successfully obtained and managed numerous multimillion-pound national and European flagship research programs, fostering extensive collaboration between academia and industry. In addition, she has established state-of-the-art nanomaterials, innovative thin/thick film processing, and characterization facilities, representing a significant investment in cutting-edge infrastructure.

 Assoc. Prof. Jun Zha

Xi’an Jiaotong University, China  

Dr. Jun Zha is an Associate Research Fellow in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU). He is an researcher in precision machine tool technology, with research covering machining processes, functional components, and error measurement in machine tools. He joined Xi’an Jiaotong University after earning his Ph.D. in 2017 and was promoted to a permanent faculty position in 2020.
Dr. Zha earned his Ph.D. in Machine Tools and Measurement from Xi’an Jiaotong University and holds an M.Sc. in CAD/CAM from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. His growing international profile is evidenced by his experience as a Postdoctoral Researcher at KU Leuven in Belgium (2019-2020) and as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Glasgow in the UK (2022-2023). At XJTU, Dr. Zha is responsible for leading academic and industry-focused research. His team's work centers on developing high-performance and high-precision machine tool technologies. His expertise encompasses several key areas, including advanced machining, the design and analysis of hydrostatic bearings, error measurement and compensation techniques, and the holistic design of precision machine tools.