Dr. Renate Fruchter is the founding director of the Project Based Learning Laboratory (PBL Lab) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at Stanford University. Her research and development focus on emergent collaboration technologies in support of global project teamwork in education and corporate settings. She is a designer of physical and virtual interactive learning and workspaces. Dr. Fruchter studies the relation between people-place-process-technology to re-imagine the future of work and learning. Furthermore, Dr. Fruchter is the developer of the innovative course "Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) Global Teamwork" launched in 1993, engaging university and industry partners worldwide. Her latest efforts focus on: (i) big data analytics and visualization towards harmonizing occupant well-being and building sustainable performance; (ii) accelerating creativity and engagement in global teamwork through parametric modelling optimization, generative AI, and VR/AR/MR/XR.

Dr. Manolis is Professor Honorarius and past Director of the Laboratory for Strength of Materials and Structures at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He earned his BCE, M.Sc., and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States. From 1980 to 1990, Dr. Manolis was a faculty member at the State University of New York at Buffalo, later joining Aristotle University in 1991 and becoming a full professor in 1994. He has served as Director of the Division of Structures and of the Master’s program on Earthquake Resistant Design in Aristotle University. Dr. Manolis’ research focuses on boundary element methods in elastodynamics, structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, structural mechanics, nanomechanics, and structural health monitoring. He has participated in close to 70 funded research projects and has published extensively, including eighteen books, 180 journal papers, 185 conference papers and numerous technical reports. His metrics include a Google scholar index h=39 (5940 citations), a Scopus index h=28 (198 publications), and the Stanford University list of the top 2% of scientists in the physical sciences. Finally, Dr. Manolis is a member of several scientific societies and editorial boards, a Fellow at the Wessex Institute of Great Britain, a member of Academiae Europaeae, and a recipient of the Mercator Fellowship.