Conference Chair: Prof. Mehrdad M. N. Ghasemi-Nejhad
Dr. Mehrdad N. Ghasemi Nejhad is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Nejhad's area of expertise and interest are in the application of thermo-mechanics and structural dynamics in design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing of advanced materials and structures such as composite, intelligent, and nano materials and structures employing analytical, computational, and experimental techniques. He has published over 80 papers including Science and Nature Materials, and has delivered a number of Invited and Keynote Lectures on Composites and Smart Structures. Dr. Nejhad is the reviewer for a number of reputable journals in his field. He is also the Associate Editor of the Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials. Dr. Nejhad has worked on different projects supported by ONR, NRL, Allied-Signal/Honeywell, NSF, DARPA, and the University Research Council and the Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is a member of the ASME/Aerospace/Adaptive Structures and Material Systems (ASMS) Technical Committee, Co-Chair of the ASME/IMECE ASMS Symposium in 2005 in Orlando, FL, and Chair in 2006 in Chicago, IL. Dr. Nejhad is the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Faculty Advisor, Society for the Advanced of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) Faculty Advisor, and a Member of American Society for Composites (ASC). He is the founding director of three laboratories: 1) Advanced Materials Manufacturing Laboratory (AMML), 2) Intelligent and Composite Materials Laboratory (ICML), and 3) Hawaii Nanotechnology Laboratory. Dr. Nejhad received his PhD degree in 1992 from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Composite Materials, at the University of Delaware.

Conference Co-Chair: Ian Kitajima
Mr. Kitajima is the marketing director at Oceanit, Inc., one of Hawaii's largest and most diversified science and engineering companies. He is responsible for corporate-wide marketing and spin off activities for Oceanit's award winning innovations, products, and services. He is an Oceanit founding team member for Hoana Medical (www.hoana.com), Mosaic, a new optical design and fabrication facility on Maui (www.mosaicoptics.com), and Nanopoint, Oceanit's latest spin off focused on commercializing technology to image inside of live cells at nanometer resolution, (www.nanopointimaging.com). Mr. Kitajima comes to Oceanit with a background in starting and growing companies focused in wireless warehouse management systems, international consumer marketing, and prior to joining Oceanit in 2001, was the CEO of a wireless startup developing virtual communities for mobile phones in Helsinki Finland.

Conference Co-Chair: Dr. Anyuan Cao
Dr. Anyuan Cao is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as of August 2005. Dr. Cao is pursuing research in the field of nanotechnology, including self-assembly, electrical and mechanical properties, and environmental and energy applications of nanowires, nanotubes, and nanostructure-based composites. Dr. Cao has over 30 publications in peer reviewed journals including Science, Nature Materials, and serves as referee for many journals. Dr. Cao is the Associate Director at the Hawaii Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Cao obtained his PhD degree in 2002 from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University, China. After that he worked at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Materials Science and Engineering as a postdoctoral researcher before he joined the University of Hawaii.

Technical Chair and Program Coordinator: Vinod P. Veedu, PhD
Mr. Vinod Veedu received his PhD at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is a research assistant at the Hawaii Nanotechnology Laboratory. His research interests are nanocomposite structures and devices. He received his MS degree from Florida Atlantic University for his research on sandwich composite materials.

Event Organizer: Cindy Matsuki
Ms. Matsuki is on the business development and marketing team at Oceanit. She has a background in engineering as well as marketing. She supports many aspects of Oceanit's marketing, branding and public relations efforts.