Jens Winkelmann is associated with the digitalization-in-mining industry and currently working as a data scientist at talpasolutions GmbH, Essen, Germany. He completed his BSc and MSc, both in physics, from Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany, in 2013 and 2015, respectively. In 2019, he earned his PhD in physics on the topic “Structures of columnar packings with soft and hard spheres” under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Hutzler at the Foams and Complex Systems Research Group of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Winkelmann has authored a good number of peer-reviewed scientific papers on the subjects of packing problems and, more generally, soft matter physics.
Ho-Kei Chan is an associate professor of physics at the School of Science of the Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China. He completed his BSc in engineering physics in 2002 from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his PhD in nonlinear and liquid crystal physics in 2007 from the University of Manchester, UK, followed by research appointments at the Hong Kong Baptist University, China; Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; and the University of Nottingham, UK. He has published peer-reviewed scientific papers in various fields such as statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, including packing problems, conduction and diffusion, crystal growth, and electrostatics.