Paul Clavin is Professor of Physics and Engineering Sciences at Aix-Marseille University (AMU) and former chair of "Physical Mechanics" at "Institut Universitaire de France", Paris (1993-2004). He is the founder of the Research Institute "IRPHE" (CNRS/AMU/ ECM) at Marseilles.

Dr. Clavin’s current research focuses on analytical studies of combustion phenomena, fluid mechanics, inertial confinement fusion and, more recently, star explosions. He is co-author with Geo Searby of the book "Combustion Waves and Fronts in Flows" Cambridge University Press to appear in 2015.

Ronald K. Hanson received his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He has been affiliated with the mechanical engineering department at Stanford since 1972, serving as department chair from 1993-2003 and holding the Woodard Chair from 1994. Dr. Hanson is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Optical Society of America (OSA), and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He is a recipient of the Silver Medal and the Alfred Egerton Gold Medal of the Combustion Institute, the R.I.Soloukhin Award of the Institute for Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems (IDERS), and the AIAA Awards for Propellants and Combustion and for Advanced Measurement Technology.

Dr. Hanson’s research interests are in laser diagnostics and sensors, shock wave physics and chemistry, laser spectroscopy, chemical kinetics, combustion science, and advanced propulsion. Hanson is a Principal Investigator at the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center (CEFRC).

Thierry Poinsot received his PhD thesis in heat transfer from Ecole Centrale Paris in 1983 and his These d’Etat in combustion in 1987. He is a research director at IMFT (CNRS) in Toulouse, head of the CFD group at CERFACS, senior research fellow at Stanford University and consultant for various companies.

Dr Poinsot’s research interests are in combustion theory, numerical methods for turbulent and laminar flames, combustion instabilities, massively parallel simulations for gas turbines, piston engines, rockets and furnaces. He is the author (with Dr Veynante) of the textbook “Theoretical and Numerical Combustion”.

Hai Wang received his Ph.D. in fuel science from the Pennsylvania State University in 1992 and is presently Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University.

Professor Wang’s research interests are in renewable energy conversion, catalysis and combustion. His current research focuses on theories and applications of nanoparticles and nanostructures for rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors, combustion simulations and nanocatalysis. Wang is a Principal Investigator at the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center (CEFRC).