Dr. N. Eswara Prasad joined DRDO in 1985 after obtaining a B. Tech. and Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University. He retired in September 2022 after serving the Indian Ministry of Defence for more than three decades as an Outstanding Scientist of DRDO. Dr. Prasad has contributed immensely to the development of several defence systems, including fighter aircraft structures, engines, missiles, naval propulsion, and personal protection systems. He has been instrumental in awarding 14 defence production technologies to over 40 Indian industries. Dr. Eswara Prasad is internationally known for his research on fatigue, fracture and life extension behaviour of several aero, structural and functional materials, with over 750 wide-ranging publications; 12 government white papers; 17 international edited books/conference proceedings, including Aluminium - Lithium Alloys: Processing, Properties and Applications and a 2-volume Reference Work Aerospace Materials and Material Technologies. He has been Chairman, President or Member of 10+ national committees and bodies and received 15+ national and international awards and 70+ honours and recognitions. These include fellowships of 6 national and international science and engineering academies/institutions, notably Founder Fellow of the Indian Structural Integrity Society (FInSIS) and Fellow of the Asia Pacific Academy of Sciences (FAPAM).
Dr. Russell Wanhill is emeritus Principal Research Scientist, Aerospace Vehicles Division, Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), in the Netherlands. He holds two Doctorates, one from the University of Manchester (1968) and the second from the Delft University of Technology (1994). He joined the NLR in 1970, and since then has investigated fatigue and fracture of all classes of aerospace alloys. He is co-author of the book Fracture Mechanics (1984), which ran into a second edition; co-author with Simon Barter of themonograph Fatigue of Beta Processed and Beta Heat-treated Titanium Alloys (2012); co-author and co-editor for the book Aluminium - Lithium Alloys: Processing, Properties and Applications (2014); co-author and co-editor for the 2-volume series Aerospace Materials and Material Technologies (2017); co-author of the monograph Corrosion and Stress Corrosion Testing of Aerospace Vehicle Structural Alloys (2018); and co-author of the monograph Fatigue Crack growth Failure and Lifing Analyses for Metallic Aircraft Structures and Components (2019).
Dr. Dipak Kumar Setua obtained his M.Sc. (Chemistry) in 1981 and Ph.D. (Polymer Science and Rubber Technology) in 1985, both from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India. Subsequently, he joined as a research scientist and spent more than 3 decades at the Defence Materials and Stores R & D Establishment (DMSRDE), Kanpur, India. Furthermore, Dr. Setua served DMRSRDE and DRDO as a DRDO Fellow until 2022. He spent 2 years (1989-91) at the Institute of Polymer Engineering, University of Akron, Ohio, Akron, USA, as a visiting scientist and remained Director of the Advanced Centre of Research on High Energy Materials (ACRHEM), University of Hyderabad, India, during 2013-14. Some of the of his research include short fibre-rubber composites, polymer blends and compatibility, polymer characterization, magneto-rheological elastomer, and design and development of polymer-based composites and nanocomposites and products for personal protection, aerospace systems and bio-medical applications. Dr. Setua has published more than 100 archival papers, several patents and book chapters. He has also received many prestigious honours and awards.
