**About the Editors**

#### **Nikolaos M. Papadakis**

Nikolaos M. Papadakis is a researcher in the Institute of Computational Mechanics and Optimization (Co.Mec.O) at the Technical University of Crete and an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Music Technology and Acoustics in the Hellenic Mediterranean University. He is also Visiting Lecturer at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He holds a Ph.D. in Architectural and Computational Acoustics from Technical University of Crete, MSc in Audio Acoustics from University of Salford, UK, and a BSc in Physics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His work focuses on architectural acoustics, computational acoustics, psychoacoustics, and environmental acoustics. He is currently working on the acoustics of monuments, modeling of noise barriers, audiovisual interaction, and soundscapes. Additionally, he participates as an acoustic consultant in various projects of public and private interest. He is a recipient of several research grants.

#### **Massimo Garai**

Massimo Garai is Full Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Bologna and head of the Applied Acoustics Lab. His work is focused on architectural acoustics, building acoustics, environmental acoustics, new measuring techniques in acoustics, properties of materials, and digital signal processing. He is currently working on modeling new metamaterials for acoustic applications, environmental sustainability, and applications of machine learning in acoustics. He is President of the Acoustics and Vibration commission of the Italian standardization body (UNI), convenor of two CEN working groups, and an ISO Expert for acoustics. He is a level 3 (max) expert in acoustics as certified by CICPND. He is one of the most cited authors of Applied Acoustics (2002–2005) and won best paper awards at the international congresses IBPC 2015, ISTD 2011, and ISTD 2009. He served as general chairman of the international congress ISTD 2017.

#### **Georgios E. Stavroulakis**

Georgios E. Stavroulakis is Professor and Director of the Institute for Computational Mechanics and Optimization at the Technical University of Crete. His work is focused on applications of optimization in mechanics, either for modeling of novel effects, such as unilateral contact problems, using nonsmooth optimization, or for optimal design and parameter identification tasks. He is currently working on modeling and identification of monuments, design of shunted piezocomposites with applications on vibration suppression, and application of artificial neural networks for the solution of engineering problems. He holds the Privatdozent title from the Technical University of Braunschweig and is an Honorary Professor at Jordan University of Science and Technology. He serves as managing board member of the Greek Association for Computational Mechanics (past president) and the Hellenic Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (president).
