Future in Composite Materials: Sustainable, High-Performance, Digitally-Driven Applications

Dr. Yahya Kara is a Research & Technology scientist at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), specializing in advanced polymer composites and sustainable materials. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in polymer materials, science, and engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). Dr. Kara's research spans the development of bio-based and hybrid composite materials, additive manufacturing, and sustainable polymer technologies. He has held prior roles as a postdoctoral research fellow at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), working on bioinspired polymer composites, additive manufacturing of continuous fiber-reinforced composites, flexible sensors, and graphene-based materials, and as a product development Engineer in the automotive and railway sectors. His contributions to polymer composite science and engineering include over a dozen peer-reviewed publications, a book, and patents related to advanced composite manufacturing and design.

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ozgur Seydibeyoglu is a materials engineering researcher who is currently working on composite materials, including polymer matrix composites, metal matrix composites, sandwich structure composites, biocomposites, and nanocomposites. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, Turkiye, and he has been a faculty member since 2012 at Izmir Katip Celebi University, where he is now a full professor. Before joining academia, he also worked as a Research and Development associate for AKSA Akrilik Kimya (PAN Fibers and Carbon Fiber Composite Research) and two other polymer companies as a researcher. He has published books and book chapters on Fiber Technology, Nanocomposites, and Lignin.

Prof. Dr. Metin Tanoglu is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Izmir Institute of Technology. He graduated from the Metallurgical Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University in 1992. In 1996, he completed a master's degree in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware, USA, and in 2000, earned a Ph.D. in the same department at the same university. He conducted his master's, doctoral, and post-doctoral research at the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, participating in various projects within the center. His research interests broadly include composite materials and production technologies, material design and behavior, composite materials for the defense and aerospace industries, composite armor materials, polymeric materials, nanocomposites, composite pressure vessels, and the design and prototype manufacturing of components such as leaf springs and shafts for the automotive industry.