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I am working at the Department of Agricultural Machinery and Technologies Engineering (Faculty of Agriculture), Ankara University as an Associate Professor. Currently, I am focus on post-harvest technologies (specifically drying and classification studies) and agricultural energy systems (solar and hybrid technologies). I’m also interested in image processing and machine learning in agricultural applications.

Ferruh Erdogdu, Ph.D. is currently full professor of food process engineering at the Ankara University, Turkey. He received his Master of Engineering degree in 1996 and Ph.D. in 2000 at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. His research studies have focused on mathematical modeling – optimization and computational food processing towards the industrial scale innovative thermal food processing and improving food manufacturing. He is the founder of the computational food processing group at the Ankara University (CFπ). He is co-author of the `Introduction to Food Engineering – 6<sup>th</sup> Ed.`, `Virtual Experiments in Food Processing-1<sup>st</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup> Eds.`, editor of the `Optimization in Food Engineering`, author or co-author of more than 100 research papers, selected member of the ISEKI Academy and IUFoST Academy. He is also one of the active members (scientific committee and acting instructor) of the International School on Modeling and Simulation in Food and Bio-Processes, and co-editor in chief of the Journal of Food Engineering.

Dr. Longsheng Fu is a Professor in the Northwest A&F University (NWAFU), China. He received his Ph. D degree from Hokkaido University in Japan in 2012, and his M.S. and B.S degree from China Agricultural University in 2009 and 2006, and was Adjunct Faculty in the Center for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems (CPAAS) of Washington State University (WSU). Dr. Longsheng Fu is an Associate Editor of the journal Computers and Electronics in Agriculture and awarded “Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing” of the journal Computers in Industry, Biosystems Engineering, and Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. Dr. Fu’s research interests include smart agricultural technology and equipment, agricultural automation and robotic harvesting, fruit intelligent sensing, machine vision and deep learning, and so on.

Dr. Karkee joined Washington State University (WSU) in 2010 where he leads a strong research program in agricultural automation and mechanization area with a particular emphasis on machine vision and sensing technologies for agricultural automation and robotics. He has been working on numerous sponsored projects in this area, including apple crop load estimation, apple and cherry harvesting, fruit tree and berry bush pruning, blossom thinning, water and nutrient stress monitoring, weed control in vegetable crops, and Big-data based SMART irrigation system for winegrapes. Dr. Karkee has been actively publishing in such journals as ‘Journal of Field Robotics’, ‘Computers and Electronics in Agriculture’, ‘Biosystems Engineering’ and ‘The Transactions of ASABE’ and has frequently presented in national and international conferences. Dr. Karkee currently serves as an Associate Editor of ‘Transactions of the ASABE’ and ‘Applied Engineering in Agriculture’, and as a Guest Editor for ‘Robotics’. He is the elected chair of Technical Committee 8.1, Control in Agriculture, International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) serving the term from, 2017 to 2020.

Experienced Supervisor with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Mathematical Modeling, E-Learning, Energy, Renewable Energy, and Strategic Planning. Strong professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused in Mechanical Engineering, Plasticity and Materials from Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi / Middle East Technical University.

Dr. Jitendra Paliwal is the Vice President (Research and Innovation) at the University of Winnipeg in Canada. He is internationally recognized for his two decades of work mitigating grain spoilage through innovative storage techniques. Grain quality monitoring and assessment instrument designers widely refer to Jitendra’s research on developing hardware and software solutions. In 2018, he was part of a distinguished team of industry and academic researchers who won the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering’s AE50 award for adapting a cancer detection imaging technique for remote monitoring grain bins. The technology led to a groundbreaking commercial product called GrainViz, now marketed by AGCO Corp.

Jitendra’s highly collaborative interdisciplinary research work, so far, has resulted in over 160 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals. He has also authored or co-authored 150+ conference papers, five book chapters, and three patents. Jitendra serves on the editorial board of two Elsevier journals: Smart Agricultural Technology and Journal of Future Foods. He was elected the 100^th President of Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba in 2019. His contribution to the engineering profession was recognized when he was appointed a Fellow of Engineers Canada in 2017 and a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering in 2022. Jitendra is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Manitoba and a Visiting Professor at the South China University of Technology.

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Chiara Cevoli is Associate professor in Agricultural Mechanization at the University of Bologna (UNIBO), Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL). She has published more than 90 research works in the field of agricultural and food engineering; her main research interests include mathematical modeling of food processing, applications of electronics and computer science to agricultural machines and plants, spectroscopic and hyperspectral techniques, machine learning and chemometric. She has participated in several National, European and International research programs, and research collaboration with agri-food companies.  Chiara Cevoli is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Food Engineering,  Guest Editor of the Biosystem Engineering (Special Issue “New advances in measurement and data processing techniques for Agriculture, Food and Environment”), Guest Editor of the Frontiers in Nutrition (Topic: “Food Engineering Technologies: Solutions to Build Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems, and Increase Food and Nutrition Security”), and reviewer for several journals including Biosystems Engineering and Computers and Electronics in Agriculture.

A/Prof. Chao Chen is the deputy head of the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering in Monash University. Serving as the Course Director of Robotics and Mechatronics, the director of the Laboratory of Motion Generation and Analysis, A/Prof Chen has contributed to five books and published 7 patents and 124 papers, including 79 in Q1 journals. He has received two Editor’s Choice awards and one Superior Paper award. The research projects he has led have won prestigious awards, including the 2023 EA Victoria Project of the Year Award, the 2nd place of the NASA URC Mars Rover Competition in both 2022 and 2023. His research achievements have widely been reported by top media outlets including BBC news and ABC News.

Ferruh Erdogdu, Ph.D. is currently full professor of food process engineering at the Ankara University, Turkey. He received his Master of Engineering degree in 1996 and Ph.D. in 2000 at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. His research studies have focused on mathematical modeling – optimization and computational food processing towards the industrial scale innovative thermal food processing and improving food manufacturing. He is the founder of the computational food processing group at the Ankara University (CFπ). He is co-author of the `Introduction to Food Engineering – 6<sup>th</sup> Ed.`, `Virtual Experiments in Food Processing-1<sup>st</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup> Eds.`, editor of the `Optimization in Food Engineering`, author or co-author of more than 100 research papers, selected member of the ISEKI Academy and IUFoST Academy. He is also one of the active members (scientific committee and acting instructor) of the International School on Modeling and Simulation in Food and Bio-Processes, and co-editor in chief of the Journal of Food Engineering.

Dr. Longsheng Fu is a Professor in the Northwest A&F University (NWAFU), China. He received his Ph. D degree from Hokkaido University in Japan in 2012, and his M.S. and B.S degree from China Agricultural University in 2009 and 2006, and was Adjunct Faculty in the Center for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems (CPAAS) of Washington State University (WSU). Dr. Longsheng Fu is an Associate Editor of the journal Computers and Electronics in Agriculture and awarded “Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing” of the journal Computers in Industry, Biosystems Engineering, and Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. Dr. Fu’s research interests include smart agricultural technology and equipment, agricultural automation and robotic harvesting, fruit intelligent sensing, machine vision and deep learning, and so on.

Eduard Gregorio López is an associate professor at Universitat de Lleida (Spain) and a member of the Research Group on AgroICT & Precision Agriculture. Dr Gregorio is author of 40 journal articles and his primary research interests are in the area of sensors in agriculture, agricultural robotics and electrical engineering. He is currently involved in the development of new methodologies for in-field fruit detection and fruit orchard characterization.

Dr. Karkee joined Washington State University (WSU) in 2010 where he leads a strong research program in agricultural automation and mechanization area with a particular emphasis on machine vision and sensing technologies for agricultural automation and robotics. He has been working on numerous sponsored projects in this area, including apple crop load estimation, apple and cherry harvesting, fruit tree and berry bush pruning, blossom thinning, water and nutrient stress monitoring, weed control in vegetable crops, and Big-data based SMART irrigation system for winegrapes. Dr. Karkee has been actively publishing in such journals as ‘Journal of Field Robotics’, ‘Computers and Electronics in Agriculture’, ‘Biosystems Engineering’ and ‘The Transactions of ASABE’ and has frequently presented in national and international conferences. Dr. Karkee currently serves as an Associate Editor of ‘Transactions of the ASABE’ and ‘Applied Engineering in Agriculture’, and as a Guest Editor for ‘Robotics’. He is the elected chair of Technical Committee 8.1, Control in Agriculture, International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) serving the term from, 2017 to 2020.

Professor Dr. Nikolaos Katsoulas, (Agronomist, Ph.D. Agricultural Constructions), Director of the Laboratory of Agricultural Constructions and Environmental Control, is specialised in greenhouse environmental control. He is currently involved in research on greenhouse environmental control, greenhouse cover materials, crop transpiration and use of models for irrigation scheduling and fertigation management in greenhouse crops. Has more than 200 publications in this field.
Has more than 15 years experience in University and Technological Education and has participated in several European and National research programs. He is member of the International Society of Horticultural Science (ISHS), of the Comite Internationale du Genie Rural (CIGR) and other National Agricultural and Engineering associations and reviewer of articles in refereed scientific journals.

Birol Kılkış graduated with High Honors from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1970. Between 1971-1972, he studied fluid mechanics and aerodynamics at the NATO von Karman Institute in Brussels with a TÜBİTAK NATO scholarship, graduating with honors. He received his Master’s degree in 1973 and his Ph.D. in 1979. Kılkış, who received the TÜBİTAK Encouragement Award in 1981, retired from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at METU in 1999 as a professor. In the 1980s, he prepared six Heat Pump TSE Standards. He serves on various technical committees of ASHRAE. In 2003, Kılkış was elevated to ASHRAE Fellow membership due to his international achievements, and in 2004, he was selected as a Distinguished Lecturer. In 2008, he received the Distinguished Service and Exceptional Service awards. He is a member of the Green Energy Council, a member of the Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Green Energy and Exergy, and an observer member of the IEA Heat Pump Program. Additionally, he serves as a reviser for ASHRAE handbooks. An international expert in green and sustainable buildings, he has exergy-based analyses on carbon dioxide emissions, energy performance, exergy rationality, and district energy systems. He holds patents on Next Generation Hybrid Solar Energy Systems and Heat Pumps. He is the Second Chairman of the European Renewable Energy Sources for Heating and Cooling Board (RHC) and prepares reports for the EU Presidency on carbon dioxide reduction. Kılkış, who provided Mechanical Design Consultancy for Turkey’s first LEED Platinum Building, also served as the Chairman of the 13th Term Board of Directors of the Turkish Society of HVAC and Sanitary Engineers. He has over 600 original publications. He has taught at METU, Gannon University in the USA, the University of Missouri Rolla, and Başkent University. Currently, he is a regional distinguished lecturer for ASHRAE.

Associate Professor of Sustainable Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) in the Division of Animal and Human and Health Engineering and research group of M3-BIORES, at the KU Leuven. PhD in Biosystems Engineering from University College Dublin, Ireland. Co-author of 100+ SCI publications, 50+ conference proceedings, 10 book chapters and co-editor of one book. Chair of Section II and Technical Board of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR). Co-Editor-in-Chief at Elsevier journal Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. Associate Editor of the Cell Press journal Heliyon (Agriculture), Frontiers of Veterinary Science (Animal Behavior and Welfare) and Frontiers of Animal Science (Precision Livestock Farming). Series editor for Springer Nature Book Series: Smart Animal Production and Springer Nature Encyclopedia of Smart Agricultural Technologies.

Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering from the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María – Chile. Electronics and Control Engineer from the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN) – Ecuador. He worked as a researcher at the Artificial Intelligence and Vision Research Laboratory of the National Polytechnic School. He is currently a professor-researcher at Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile in the Automation and Robotics faculty. He has investigated topics related to Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), Human-Machine Interaction (HMI), assistance and collaborative systems, and algorithms able to detect different non-verbal communication techniques such as gestures, actions, and human cognitive parameters. He has also worked in the area of precision agriculture using cooperative robots capable of interacting and sharing the workspace with humans. His areas of interest are robotics, machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning, and computer vision.

Dr. Marcelo Precoppe is a Reader in Agriculture Engineering at Harper Adams University, where he leads the Collaborative Simulation Lab. His career has been dedicated to international development, focusing on designing post-harvest equipment and drying technologies for smallholder farmers and rural enterprises. Dr Precoppe’s work is characterized by a strong emphasis on collaboration with end-users and manufacturers, ensuring that the resulting technologies are not only technologically sound but also practical and user-friendly. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Hohenheim and has extensive experience working in various countries, including Brazil, Peru, Thailand, Ghana and Tanzania. He is passionate about applying his knowledge to real-world challenges and is committed to making a positive impact through his research and innovation.

Elizabeth Sklar is Professor of Agri-Robotics and Research Director at the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT), University of Lincoln, UK. Previously, she held academic posts at King’s College London, as well as the City University of New York and Columbia University in the US. Prof Sklar’s research investigates the implementation of intelligent methodologies in the context of multi-robot teams, human-machine teaming, behavior mining, and data-backed decision making, most recently applied within the agri-food pipeline. She has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed venues, is a founder of the international educational initiative RobotCupJunior, former trustee of the RoboCup Federation, former board member of the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents & MultiAgent Systems (IFAAMAS), and currently serves on the editorial board for the journal Current Robotics Reports and advisory board for UK-AIBIO. Prof Sklar’s work has been funded by the UK research councils (EPSRC, ESRC and MRC/BBSRC), Innovate UK, Research England

(Lincoln Agri-Robotics and Ceres Agri-tech), the US National Science Foundation and a US-UK Fulbright fellowship. She is a Deputy Director of the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Sustainable Understandable agri-food Systems Transformed by Artificial INtelligence (SUSTAIN).

Miguel Torres-Torriti (Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC Chile), in 1996 and 1998, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in systems and control from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 2003.,Between 2004 and 2005, he was a Senior Applications Engineer with General Electric Chile in the implementation of the multivariable process controllers for the ENAP Bío Bío and Magallanes refineries. In 2005, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering of the School of Engineering of PUC Chile, where he is currently an Associate Professor, the Director of the undergraduate program in autonomous and robotic systems, and an Associate Dean of Technology. His fields of experience comprise systems modeling and control, estimation, robot dynamics, sensors and perception. His current research projects include the development of sensing, motion planning and control strategies for mobile manipulators in agriculture and mining.

Stavros Vougioukas is a professor of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of California, Davis, where he serves as vice chair and undergraduate faculty advisor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. Vougioukas works in the area of mechanization and automation of specialty crops, focusing on the design, development and testing of actuators, sensors and control systems for optimal management of inputs and products. He holds a Robotics and Automation PhD in electrical, computers and systems engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 2012 he joined the biological and agricultural engineering department of UC Davis. He has published more than 140 journal and conference papers, most of them in agricultural robotics and automation.

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Born in Southern China, Professor Da-Wen Sun is a global authority in food engineering research and education. He is an Academician of six academies including Member of Royal Irish Academy, the highest academic honour in Ireland; Member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe), one of the most prestigious academies in the world; Foreign Member of Polish Academy of Sciences, the highest lifetime honour bestowed by the Polish government; Fellow of International Academy of Food Science and Technology; Fellow of International Academy of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering; and Full Member of International Academy of Refrigeration. He is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Food and Bioprocess Technology; Founding Series Editor of “Contemporary Food Engineering” book series with over 50 volumes published; and the founder and President of the International Academy of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (iAABE). He served as the President the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR), the world largest organisation in the field, in 2013-2014, and is now Honorary President of CIGR. He has significantly contributed to the field of food engineering as a researcher, as an academic authority and as an educator.