P.A. Lakshminarayanan was Chief Technology Officer at Simpson and Co Ltd, Chennai, India till 1-Jan-2019, and before 2011 was the head of the Engine R&D at Ashok Leyland, India. After completing his B. Tech, MS and PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, he worked as a research associate in University of Technology, Loughborough, UK for four years. He has more than 35 years industry experience, having worked in various capacities in Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited, Ashok Leyland and Simpson and Co Ltd. Dr Lakshminarayanan is a fellow of SAE, ISEES, and Indian National Academy of Engineering and a member of Combustion Institute. He has co-authored two books and more than 50 research papers and holds seven patents.
Avinash Kumar Agarwal is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. His areas of interest are IC engines, combustion, alternative fuels, conventional fuels, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, HCCI, emission and particulate control, and large bore engines. He has published 24 books and 230+ international journal and conference papers. Prof. Agarwal is a Fellow of SAE (2012), ASME (2013), ISEES (2015) and INAE (2015). He received several awards such as Prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award-2016 in Engineering Sciences, Rajib Goyal prize-2015, NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award-2012; INAE Silver Jubilee Young Engineer Award-2012; SAE International’s Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award-2008; INSA Young Scientist Award-2007; UICT Young Scientist Award-2007; INAE Young Engineer Award-2005.