Kiana Shirzad is an Application Scientist for Rheology and Extrusion at Anton Paar. She earned her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Merced, where she focused on polymers and advanced material characterization methods. Her expertise lies in applying rheological techniques to understand complex material behavior and supporting customers in their research and industrial applications.

Edward (Ned) Tomlinson, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Scientist at Arkema. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2017, where his research focused on the solid-state physics of stable radical species. Since joining Arkema, he has spent almost a decade working on a variety of technologies and applications, including adhesives, rubber crosslinking, reactive extrusion, and polymer modification. His work centers on the development and application of organic peroxide technologies for polymer and elastomer processing, helping customers optimize material performance across diverse applications.

Mr. Howard started his career 43 years ago in the steel and automotive industry. While working in manufacturing he attended university and later taught for 5 years at the university. Approximately 28 years ago Mr. Howard moved to the Polymer industry designing molds and then into engineering of rubber processing equipment. Currently, based on his expertise in the industry, he works As Director of Operations for G3 United States of America, a new global expansion location of G3 Mixing Technologies. He specialized in the latest technology and Global marketing in rubber and plastic industry worldwide.

Brian is a third generation mold maker with more than forty years of experience in precision tooling and molding operations. He began his career in the plastics industry in 1985 as a production press operator, gaining firsthand knowledge of molding behavior, part quality, and process flow. He advanced into a formal mold making apprenticeship in 1986 and achieved Class A mold maker status ten years later. During this period, Brian worked in small, highly specialized 4–5 person shops, building thermoplastic and die cast molds from start to finish. In 2010, Brian joined M.R. Mold & Engineering Corp. as a Project Manager and was promoted to Operations Manager later that year, overseeing tooling programs, production scheduling, and cross functional technical coordination. In 2017, he was appointed to lead the MR Mold Tech Center, where he expanded the company’s capabilities in liquid silicone rubber (LSR) processing. In this role, Brian manages LSR molding operations, process development, and technical training, integrating traditional mold making expertise with advanced silicone molding technologies to support complex, high precision manufacturing programs.

Ben is the Technical Sales Director for MAPLAN, a leading global manufacturer of rubber and silicone molding solutions. For more than a decade, he has worked with manufacturers throughout North America to improve rubber molding processes, automation readiness and implementation, and manufacturing competency across a wide range of vertical markets. Drawing from experience gained through thousands of customer visits, Ben brings a practical, application-focused perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing today's rubber manufacturers.

Ermioni Charalampopoulou is a Ph.D. candidate in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Southern California (USC). She earned dual Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering at National Technical University of Athens, in Greece, before beginning her doctoral studies. Her research combines bioengineering, quantitative phosphoproteomics, and systems biology to investigate how different co-stimulatory domains shape signaling in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. By mapping the molecular pathways underlying CAR activation, her work aims to provide mechanistic insights that support the rational design of safer, more effective, and more durable cell therapies for cancer. She is passionate about translating advances in engineering and proteomics into next-generation immunotherapies.