Yong-Duan Song received his Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, USA, in 1992. He held a tenured Full Professor position with North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, from 1993 to 2008 and a Langley Distinguished Professor position with the National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, VA, from 2005 to 2008. He is now the Dean of School of Automation, Chongqing University, and the Founding Director of the Institute of Smart Systems and Renewable Energy, Chongqing University. He was one of the six Langley Distinguished Professors with the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), Founding Director of Cooperative Systems at NIA. He has served as an Associate Editor/Guest Editor for several prestigious scientific journals. Prof. Song has received several competitive research awards from the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Air Force Office, the U.S. Army Research Office, and the U.S. Naval Research Office. His research interests include intelligent systems, guidance navigation and control, bio-inspired adaptive and cooperative systems, rail traffic control and safety, and smart grid.