Dr. Mohamed Trabia received his B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Alexandria University, Egypt, in 1980 and 1983, respectively. He was awarded a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University, USA, in 1987. He is now an Associate Dean of Research, Graduate Studies, and Computing and a Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Trabia is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Dr. Trabia has received multiple awards recognizing his teaching, research, and service efforts, including the ASME Dedicated Service Award and the UNLV Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year. His research interests include optimization algorithms and their applications to mechanical engineering design, the finite element analysis of mechanical components and systems, dynamic analysis and control of mechanical systems with an emphasis on flexible robots, the analysis and design of robots and mechanisms, biomedical applications of mechanical design, the characterization of biomaterials, and the path planning and obstacle avoidance of mobile robots.
Dr. Brendan O'Toole obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of Delaware in 1986, his master's degree from the same university in 1989, and his doctoral degree from the same university in 1992. He is currently the director of the Center for Materials and Structures. His research interests have focused on a broad range of experimental material characterization and computational simulations of advanced materials subject to extreme loading conditions. He is the faculty advisor to the student section of the Society of Automotive Engineers and has mentored many ASME and SAE student design competition teams. His areas of expertise include composites, manufacturing, mechanical testing, mechanics, stress analysis, and vehicle design.
