Tai-Ping Liu is distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Liu (with Yu) has conducted the quantitative analysis of the Boltzmann equation in the kinetic theory. He explicitly constructed the fundamental solution, and used it for the establishment of the invariant manifold theory for the stationary Boltzmann equation. These new techniques were used to study the nonlinear coupling of Knudsen-type boundary layers and the fluid-like interior waves, and the resulting striking bifurcation phenomena for transonic condensation/evaporation. Liu has also done extensive research on the shock wave theory, for which he has proposed the Liu entropy condition and studied the well-posed theory for system of hyperbolic conservation laws. He introduced the Green's function approach for the quantitative analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations in gas dynamics and other viscous systems. Liu also made pioneering contributions to conservation laws with sources, including relaxation phenomenon, vacuum in gas flows, stability and in stability of nozzle flows. With Elling, the long-standing Prandtl Paradox on the physicality of weak shock reflection on a supersonic pointed projectile was resolved. Liu obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He has held professorship positions at University of Maryland, New York University and Stanford University, where he is now an Emeritus Professor. Liu is Member of Academia Sinica, Fellow of American Mathematical Society, Recipient of Galileo Galilei Medal, and other honors.

Wim Ubachs is professor at Vrije University (LaserLaB Amsterdam, Netherlands) where he focuses on the fundamental interaction between light and atoms/molecules: spectroscopy and light scattering. He has investigated the possible variation of fundamental constants on a cosmological time scale using optical and radio telescopes. Currently he is involved in testing quantum electrodynamics and the search for physics beyond the Standard Model from laser metrology studies of hydrogen molecules. In addition he is group leader at the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) at Amsterdam, investigating the production of extreme ultraviolet radiation at 13.5 nm in a laser-produced plasma from tin micro-droplets, for the next generation wafer steppers of the semiconductor industry (ASML). He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Nijmegen (NL), has co-authored over 300 publications, was visiting professor at the ETH-Zurich, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and has received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council.

Prof. Levin has distinguished herself as an international authority in the multi-disciplinary research area of modeling and simulation of energetic chemically reacting flows with approximately 145 refereed, 200 conference papers. Her broad research interests include a range of subjects related to modeling chemical reactions and spectral radiation from hypersonic flows, space propulsion (ionic liquids) and spacecraft contamination (sputtering due to electric propulsion devices), porous, charring thermal protection materials, and particulate flows in atmospheric electrostatic discharges. Her most recent research thrusts involve the development of kinetic, particle-based algorithms to model weakly ionized plasma flows through porous media, fully kinetic direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC)/ particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithms on unstructured grids, and laminar shock-boundary layer flows in CPU/GPU peta-scale environments. In her studies of transitioning flows undergoing LSWBLI she has been the first to couple kinetic particle gas dynamic approaches with linear stability theory and data-driven methods. A dedicated educator, Dr. Levin has taught approximately 1,000 undergraduate students since 1998 in courses spanning freshman Chemistry, Spacecraft Environments, Physics of Gases, the Fundamentals of Fluid Flows, Numerical methods, and Rocket propulsion. She has graduated 15 Ph.D and 16 MS students in Aerospace Engineering, some of whom have won awards and gone on to positions of significant responsibility. Professor Levin is a fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. She is the past chairman of the AIAA Plasmadynamics and Lasers Technical and is a past associate editor for The Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer. She co-chaired the 27th International Symposium on Rarefied Gas Dynamics and is a member of the International Advisory Committee.

A Bachelor of Science graduate in chemistry from Seoul National University (South Korea) in 1959, he studied chemical physics (1962-1965) and obtained a PhD degree in chemical physics from Brown University, 1965. Then he continued as Research Associate for a year and subsequently was a Research Fellow in chemistry, Harvard University, 1966-1967. Thereafter he was appointed Assistant Professor 1967, Associate Professor 1972, and Professor 1975 in Chemistry, McGill University. Retiring from teaching from 2001, he has been devoting his research efforts to kinetic theories of dilute and dense fluids, nonlinear irreversible transport processes in systems far removed from equilibrium, formulations of a general theory of irreversible nonlinear thermodynamics of transport processes and related hydrodynamic theories, now called generalized hydrodynamics. He spent his sabbatical years in Free University of Brussel, MIT, Standford University, and Seoul National University. In addition to numerous original research articles on topics ranging from molecular scattering theories of chemical systems to kinetic theories of gases and liquids, theories of transport processes therein, irreversible thermodynamics of nonlinear transport processes, and hydrodynamics, he has 7 monographs and two textbooks on thermodynamics dealing with subjects of his research. He was an Alfred Sloan Research Fellow 1972-74 and is a Senior Fellow, the Korea Academy of Science and Technology.