“The line-up of keynote speakers for the NAFEMS World Congress 2009 is one of the strongest yet”, commented Tim Morris, NAFEMS CEO. “The combination of technical expertise, academic knowledge and industry experience will give attendees at the Congress an unrivalled insight into the use of analysis and simulation technologies in industry today, and how they will be used in the future. We are delighted that some of the key people in the world of simulation have agreed to share their thoughts and experiences with our delegates.”

The confirmed keynote speakers are:

• Erich Schelkle - Porsche AG and Automotive Simulation Center Stuttgart, Germany

  Prof. Dr. Schelkle has been in charge of the Structural Analysis Department in Full Vehicle Development since 1989. At the time being he holds the position of a Senior Manager for Strategy and Methods with regard to CAE-body. In this function he is also responsible for the testing and introduction of new simulation methods. A special focus is on the implementation of “Virtual Prototyping” at Porsche.

  Prof. Dr. Schelkle has also been the Chairman of the Finite Element working group of the German Automotive Research Association (FAT) in Frankfurt/Main since 1994. Further, he holds the position of the Managing Director of the new founded Automotive Simulation Center Stuttgart e.V. (ASCS) since July 2008 and he is additional a consultant for national and European research projects.

• Tsuyoshi Yasuki - Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan

  Tsuyoshi Yasuki, project general manager with Toyota Motor Corporation, leads the crashworthiness, occupant protection, human FE modeling and computational fluid dynamics areas of Advanced CAE division.

  Mr. Yasuki has 27 years experiences in developing new methodologies, validation, application of large scale computing systems including automotive body structures and chassis systems subject to static and dynamic loading conditions. Mr. Yasuki holds a B.S. and an M.S. in naval architecture engineering from Osaka University.

• Martin Wiedemann - DLR German Aerospace Center, Germany

  Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Wiedemann is head of the Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems. His career started as a Scientist at the Institute for Space and Aviation, Technical University Berlin, and he has held positions at the Institut for Space and Aviation, TU Berlin, Airbus DA-EMA and ESG.
  
  Since 2007, Prof. Wiedemann as been Professor of Adaptronics at the Technical University of Braunschweig, and is also Head of DLR Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems.

• Jacek Marczyk - Ontonix, Italy

  Dr. Marczyk, the founder of Ontonix, has over twenty five years of experience in Computer-Aided Engineering in the aerospace, automotive and off-shore industries in which he established and led various successful international R&D projects.

  He holds an MS in Aeronautics Engineering (Politecnico di Milano), MS in Aerospace Engineering (Politecnico di Torino) and a Ph.D in Civil Engineering (Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya). In the mid 1990s he has introduced to the industry the first commercial tool for large-scale stochastic simulation, ST-ORM. He has actively pioneered innovative methodologies for uncertainty and complexity management and has published four books on stochastic and nonlinear mechanics. During his career, he has worked for EADS/CASA, BMW AG, Centric Engineering Systems, ESI, Silicon Graphics, Tecnomare, EASi Engineering and MSC Software (Chief Scientist). While at MSC, he led the development of award-winning MSC.Robust Design.

• Louis Komzsik - Siemens PLM Software, USA

  Louis Komzsik is a graduate of the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary, with a doctorate in mechanical engineering and has worked in the industry for almost four decades, including 20 years at the MacNeal-Schwendler (now MSC Software) Corporation. He is currently the chief numerical analyst in the Office of Architecture and Technology at Siemens PLM Software. His industry accomplishments include computational methods that became de-facto industrial standards in the area of commercial finite element analysis tools such as NASTRAN. He is the original author of the NASTRAN Numerical Methods Handbook, first published by MSC almost 20 years ago. His book on the Lanczos method published by SIAM has also been translated to Japanese, Korean and Hungarian.

  He captured his industrial experience and expertise in an engineering mathematics trilogy, starting with a 2004 book about Computational Techniques of Finite Element Analysis, currently in its second edition. The second book titled Approximation Techniques for Engineers was published in 2006 and the closing book of Applied Calculus of Variations for Engineers appeared in 2008.

• François Besnier - Principia RD, France

  Since 1970, Francois Besnier has acquired a huge expertise in the field of numerical simulation applied to industrial problems and is recognized as one of the leading figures in the engineering analysis community in France. His skills extend from numerical methods, particularly finite element methods and related software development (CAD integration), to solving industrial problems and analyst team management.

  A well-respected consultant with a wealth of industrial experience, Francois Besnier is also a qualified NAFEMS tutor and his course has received the endorsement of the NAFEMS Education & Training Working Group.

The Congress
The NAFEMS World Congress 2009 will be THE International Congress on Simulation Technology for the Engineering Analysis Community. This is your opportunity to be part of this world-renowned biennial Congress, and ensure that your organisation is represented atthe largest and most respected independent engineering analysis event on the calendar.

For the past twenty-five years, the NAFEMS World Congress has brought together the leading minds in the simulation and analysis world, from industrial practitioners, consultancies, academic researchers and software developers. The Congress has become a fixture for the simulation community, and NWC09 promises to be the largest and most successful event of its kind.

Further information on conference themes, delegate information and exhibition & sponsorship opportunities is available at http://www.nafems.org/congress , where a full agenda will also be announced shortly.