Shapour Azarm, Ph.D., P.E., is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park. He also holds a faculty appointment with the Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation Program at UMD. He has B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Tehran, George Washington University, and University of Michigan, respectively. He is a past chair of the ASME Design Automation Conference, ASME Design Automation Committee, ASME Design Engineering Division, and a past operating board member of the ASME Systems and Design Group. Among other awards, he is a recipient of the ASME Design Automation Award for his sustained and meritorious contributions to research in Design Automation. He is a Fellow of ASME.