Dr. Marc Schmidt is Vice President of Technologies Europe at AAF International and a well-recognized expert in air filtration. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany. With a strong international background, Dr. Schmidt has a proven track record in product and process development, sales, technical marketing, business development, and operations management across the filter and nonwovens industries in both Europe and China. In addition to his corporate role, he serves as Chairman of the Eurovent Product Group Filters (PG-FIL), where he contributes to shaping standards and advancing best practices in the field. Dr. Schmidt also engages in international consulting and technical training related to air filtration on behalf of AAF International and is a frequent speaker at international conferences and symposia, sharing his expertise on filtration technologies and market trends.

Panelists

Mr. Nick Agopian is President of Reviveaire, USA. With 30+ years of Filtration, HVAC & energy-recovery experience, Nick focuses on Indoor Air Quality and improving the human condition indoors. Nick’s has held executive positions of VP for various businesses like Circul-Aire, Dectron Internationale, President and General Manager at SEMCO, a Fläkt Woods company, and Vice President at RenewAire. Nick is highly involved with ASHRAE,where he sits on numerous technical committees, such as ASHRAE 62.1 & 62.2, ASHRAE Position Document - Human Health and Wellness in the Built Environment, TC 2.3, SPC 145P, TRG4.IAQP, TG 9, etc. He’s also served on a special board for filtration part of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors for the Missouri Innovation Center’s Life Sciences Business Incubator, Board of the local Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman of the Board for the Home Ventilating Institute. A committed lifelong learner, Agopian’s undergrad was in Mechanical Systems Engineering from Vanier, Quebec, Canada, and an International M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Mr. Satish Dinakaran is the Senior Principal of Advanced Technology for air filtration and sanitization products at AprilAire. He began his air filtration journey in 2005 after earning his master’s degree in mechanical engineering with a focus on indoor air quality. His career launched with a pivotal role on a U.S. Department of Defense-funded project, where he led the design, manufacturing, and testing of non-powered CBRN shelters for the U.S. military. Over the years, Satish has held leadership roles in Engineering, R&D, and Project Management at Filtration Group, Flanders (later AAF Flanders), Pall Microelectronics, and currently, AprilAire. His work includes the development of innovative products across HEPA, residential, and commercial HVAC filtration. He is also the primary inventor on two patents related to air filtration technologies. Satish is a member of the ASME standard Committee on Nuclear Air and Gas Treatment (CONAGT). He also serves as an expert on the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO, where he chairs Advisory Panel 10 for HEPA filters in nuclear applications, and contributes to Advisory Panel 4 for general HEPA filter standards.

Dr. Christine Sun, President of the World Filtration Institute (WFI), is a globally renowned technical and market expert in the filtration industry. With 30+ years of experience in academia and industry, she has 100+ publications and patents with deep expertise in technology innovation and business development. Dr. Sun chaired the American Filtration and Separation Society (AFS) (2016–2017) and received the AFS Fellow Award (2019). She served as Technology Director at Donaldson (2011–2013), R&D Manager at Freudenberg Filtration Technologies (2004–2011), and Research Professor at the University of Tennessee (1995–2024). She earned her BS, MS, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, China, and an Executive Certificate from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA. Dr. Sun serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Industrial Textiles and Textile Science & Research Journal.

Dr. R. Vijayakumar, Founder of AERFIL, USA, is a globally recognized expert and mentor in contamination control and filtration. He is the founder and head of AERFIL, a consulting company devoted to providing technical and business solutions and services for the filtration and contamination control industry around the world.  In addition to being a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Building Research, he has been on the faculty of the short course on air and gas filtration at the University of Minnesota since its inception and one of the founding faculty for ASHRAE’s Cleanroom Certification Program. He is a Fellow and was a Distinguished Lecturer of ASHRAE. He has taught courses in cleanroom design for ASHRAE, and has lectured around the world for them on various aspects of filtration, aerosol mechanics and cleanroom designs. He has recently published an iBook on Aerosol Mechanics for the general user and is also a coauthor for the ASHRAE Cleanroom Design Guide. He is a Fellow and past President of the IEST, the premiere contamination control organization in the US. Currently, he chairs standards development committees at the ISO and in the US writing standards for high efficiency filtration and filter media used in cleanrooms, hospitals, and indoor environments.