Dr Amlan Kar is a Senior Scientist at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He has a background in Mechanical Engineering and previously served as a faculty member at Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad in India. He earned his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College and went on to pursue an M. Tech in Metal Forming at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He was fascinated by the structure-property correlation of materials during plastic deformation, which led him to obtain his PhD in dissimilar Friction Stir Welding from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. Dr. Kar has worked on various industrially relevant projects, including the development of composite materials using Friction Stir Processing and incremental sheet metal forming of titanium. He has also contributed to the field of Friction Stir Welding, particularly in joining dissimilar light alloys. His expertise extends to dissimilar Friction Stir Lap welding of aluminum to steel using an adjustable tool, conducted at JWRI, Osaka University. Currently, Dr. Kar focuses his research on dissimilar welding techniques, mechanical joining, additive manufacturing, and other related areas. His goal is to improve the mechanical properties of materials across different temperatures through a deeper understanding of their mechanical behavior. Dr. Kar is an accomplished academician and researcher. He has published numerous papers in renowned international journals and conferences. He has received prestigious awards, including the "IIM SJEF Fellowships," and serves as a reviewer for esteemed journals. Dr. Kar is actively involved in professional committees such as TMS and the Indian Society for Applied Mechanics, leveraging his expertise in welding, metal forming, additive manufacturing, materials characterization, and structure-property-performance correlation. Dr Zafar Alam is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India. Prior to joining IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, he served as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, India for two years. He received his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia, India in 2012. He has received his M. Tech and PhD in Production Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India in 2014 and 2019 respectively. As an academician and researcher, he has published an authored and an edited book, several book chapters and more than two dozens of research papers in peer reviewed international journals and conferences. He also has to his credit six Indian patents and has received two international and three national awards including the critically acclaimed GYTI (Gandhian Young Technological Innovation) award for his contribution in the field of research and innovation. His research interests include but are not limited to advanced finishing/polishing processes, non-conventional machining, additive manufacturing, industrial automation and motion control.
