Soft Computing in Smart Manufacturing and Materials

With 24+ years of combined experience in teaching, research, and industry, Prof. Sudan Jha is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Kathmandu University, Nepal. He leads the IoT R&D Lab at Kathmandu University and has previously been affiliated with KIIT University, Chandigarh University, Christ University, and more. He has held key positions such as Technical Director at Nepal Television, Principal in engineering colleges, and Individual Consultant at Nepal Telecom Authority.

Prof. Jha is an AI expert with active contributions to Nepal's AI Policy 2081 for the Government of Nepal. He has also mentored the AI Concept Paper submitted by the Federation of Computer Association of Nepal (CAN Federation). Additionally, he serves as the Vice President of npCERT (Information Security Response Team Nepal), playing a crucial role in cybersecurity and digital infrastructure initiatives.

Dedicated to advancing higher education and smart platform technologies, he has published 95+ SCI/SCIE-indexed research papers and book chapters in international peer-reviewed journals and conferences. He is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of an international journal and a Guest Editor for SCIE/ESCI/SCOPUS-indexed journals. His research contributions include three patents and authorship/editorship of seven books on IoT, 5G, and AI, published by Elsevier, CRC, and AAP. His work has also secured funding for two international projects.

Prof. Jha has delivered keynote speeches at over 45 international conferences and has conducted faculty development programs, short-term training programs, and workshops at both national and international levels. He holds certifications in Microservices Architecture, Data Science, and Foundations of Artificial Intelligence.

His primary research interests include AI & IoT integration, Quality of Services in IoT-enabled devices, Neutrosophic Theory, and Neutrosophic Soft Set Systems.

Dr. Shubhabrata Datta is a Research Professor in Mechanical Engineering of SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattanku lathur, Chennai, India. His research interest is in the domain of design of materials using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. Dr. Datta has more than 150 publications in journals and peer-reviewed conference proceedings. He was bestowed with the Exchange Scientist Award from Royal Academy of Engineering, UK and worked in the University of Sheffield, UK. He also worked in Dept of Materials Science and Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, Dept of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, USA and Heat Engineering Lab, Dept of Chemical Engineering, Abo Akademi University, Finland as Visiting Scientist. He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India), Associate Editor, Journal of the Institution of Engineers (India): Series D, and editorial board member of several international journals.

Deepak Prashar received B. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Punjab Technical University, Pun- jab, India in 2007 and M. Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, India in 2009. Presently he is working as a Professor and Coordinator of School of Computer Science & Engineering at Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India since 2009. He has completed his Ph. D. degree from Punjab Technical University (Punjab). He has published more than 90 research papers in reputed national, international conferences and journals, including SCOPUS and SCIE indexed journals. His research interest includes Wireless Sensor Networks, Soft Computing, Block chain, Machine Learning, IoT, Image Processing and Cyber security. He is involved in the review process of many SCI or SCIE indexed journals like IEEE, Springer, Wiley, Inderscience, etc. He is also the Editorial Board member of recognized journals and serving as a technical program committee member in reputed international conferences in India and abroad.

Sarbagya Ratna Shakya is working as an Assistant Professor at Eastern New Mexico University, New Mexico, USA. He received the B. Eng. in Electronics Engineering from National College of Engineering, Tribhuvan University of Nepal in 2009; M. Eng. in Computer Engineering from Nepal College of Information Technology, Pokhara University of Nepal in 2014. He has received his Ph. D in Computational Science (Computer Science) from the School of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, University of Southern Mississippi, USA. He has more than 10 years of teaching experience in undergraduate level courses. His research interest includes machine learning, deep learning, image processing, Internet of things and has published journals papers, conference papers, and book chapters in different domain on applications of machine learning and deep learning.

Valentina Emilia Balas is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Automatics and Applied Software at the Faculty of Engineering, "Aurel Vlaicu? University of Arad, Romania. She holds a PhD cum Laude in Applied Electronics and Telecommunications from the Polytechnic University of Timisoara. Dr. Balas is the author of more than 350 research papers. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the 'International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms' and the 'International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering', an editorial board member for several other national and international publications, and an expert evaluator for national and international projects and PhD theses.