Dr. Bayraktar received his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey in 1995 and has been serving as a professor since 2003. His research interests are Structural Engineering, Earthquake Engineering, and Structural Health Monitoring. He has 172 international journal papers and over 300 other publications, national and international research and application projects, journal editorial board and conference scientific committee members, and invited speakers. He has successfully supervised many MSc and Ph.D. theses. Dr. Bayraktar was selected as the most productive scientist between 2007-2011 in Karadeniz Technical University by Elsevier. He was awarded the Science Award in 2012 by the Association of Dam Safety in Turkey, Paper Award in 2009 by Roads Turkish National Committee, and Faculty High-Performance Awards in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014. He is ranked among the top 1.4% of scientists in Civil Engineering in accordance with the Global Database produced by Stanford University (Top 2% scientists-2020 and 2021). Between 2004-2007 and 2007-2013, he was served as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering and Dean of Engineering Faculty at Karadeniz Technical University, respectively.

Dr. Hany El Naggar, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a Professor of GeoStructural/Geotechnical Engineering at Dalhousie University with more than 25 years of experience in civil construction, geotechnical and structural engineering and research in Canada and overseas. He has participated in several geotechnical and structural investigations and is experienced in the analysis and design of foundations and soil-structure interaction of buried infrastructure. Dr. El Naggar and his research team have investigated the SSI effects around buried infrastructure and explored innovative uses of tire derived aggregate (TDA) as a buffer zone to create stress arching and reduce demand on rigid pipes and culverts. They also proposed an earth pressure reduction system using a geogrid reinforced platform bridging system to reduce stresses on buried utilities and studied the effects of high-rise buildings on pre-existing tunnels. Likewise, they conducted several slope stability assessments for high embankments and dams and developed a new sand-coated glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) pile with an enhanced friction performance. Dr. El Naggar’s research findings have been reported in more than 170 technical publications covering both experimental and numerical work in the fields of SSI, resilient buried infrastructure, and concrete pipes. His research work on the seismic performance of corrugated metal culverts led to changing the seismic provisions of the new version of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (2019) to include rigorous dynamic analysis for flexible buried structures in high seismicity zones. Besides, his work on the modelling of rigid pipes is featured in the CHBDC (2019) as an example of the best practice in modelling buried concrete structures. These research efforts received worldwide recognition.

Dr. El Naggar is a Distinguished University Professor of Western University, Canada. He is Editor-In-Chief of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering and past Associate Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal. He published more than 500 technical papers/book chapters on foundations, soil-structure interaction and geotechnical earthquake engineering; and consulted on major projects worldwide. Dr. El Nagar attracted more than $20M of research funding and graduated 100 PhD and MESc students. He received numerous awards including: Geosynthetics, Stermac, Meyerhof, Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium Speaker, Western University Distinguished Professorship, Faculty Scholar Award, Outstanding Teaching, and Research Excellence Awards as well as the 2015 Ontario Professional Engineers Medal for Engineering Research & Development. He is an elected Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineers, Engineering Institute of Canada and the American Society for Civil Engineers.

Dr. Liping Fu is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Innovative Transportation System Solutions (iTSS) Lab at the University of Waterloo. He is a Fellow of Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and the past Chair of Transportation of Division of CSCE. Dr. Fu received Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)’s Academic Merit Award (2011) sponsored by Transport Canada for his long-term contribution to the advancement of the academic field and to the development of tomorrow’s transportation leaders. His was also the recipient of Engineering Research Excellence Award (2021) and Excellence in Graduate Supervision (2017). Dr. Fu’s research interest specifically focuses on evaluation and optimisation of large, complex traffic and transportation service systems where uncertainty and dynamics play a major role, and on the development of decision support tools for use in managing these systems. He has a long track record of research contributions to the areas of intelligent transportation systems, public transit, road safety, and winter road maintenance. Dr. Fu holds several international patent and software copyrights. Currently, Dr. Fu is leading a number of projects funded by NSERC, Transport Canada, Ministry of Transportation Ontario, City of Toronto, Region of Waterloo, Go Transit, and many industrial partners. He has served on numerous technical committees of various professional organizations, including Transportation Research Board’s Committee, Editorial Advisory Board of the journal of Transportation Research, Intelligent Transportation Systems Society of Canada, Canadian Urban Transit Association, and Institute of Transportation Engineers.