Rajiv S. Mishra is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Site Director, NSF IUCRC for Friction Stir Processing, at the University of North Texas. Dr. Mishra's publication record includes 255 papers with an h-index of 39. Out of these, 10 of his papers have more than 100 citations. He has many 'firsts' in the field of friction stir welding and processing. He co-authored the first review paper (2005), co-edited the first book on the subject (2007), edited/co-edited seven TMS symposium proceedings, and served as guest editor for Viewpoint Set in Scripta Materialia (2008). He also has three patents in this field.

He published the first paper on friction stir processing (2000) as a microstructural modification tool. Harpreet Sidhar has been serving as a graduate research assistant for the past four years in the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas. His research has included Friction stir welding and characterization of: various Al-Cu-Mg-Li alloys; Al-Mg-Li alloy; and 7050-T7451 Al alloy; as well as studying dissimilar alloy friction stir welding of 2XXX and 7XXX alloys, as well dissimilar metal friction stir welding of HSLA 65 steel and aluminum 5083 alloy and dissimilar metal lap welding of aluminum 6022 and steel using friction stir scribe technology. Harpreet has presented the following papers at the following Conferences: Friction Stir Welding and Processing VII, 2013 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition; Aluminum Alloys: Development, Characterization and Applications, 2014 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition and Joining Dissimilar Materials for Energy and Mass Optimization for the Transportation Industry, Materials Science & Technology.