Dr. Harish Rao, Ph.D., is currently ORISE postdoctoral fellow at DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Albany, Oregon, USA. Prior to working at NETL, Dr. Rao worked as a Canadian Govt. Laboratory Visiting fellow and later as a Research Scientist at CanmetMATERIALS in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Rao holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Dr. Rao has a research background in process development and fatigue characterization of various weld and riveted joints. Particularly, Dr. Rao has worked extensively on fatigue characterization of dissimilar friction stir welds, dissimilar resistance spot welds and dissimilar self-piercing riveted joints. Dr. Rao has published 20 referred journal articles and conference proceedings and one book chapter in related areas.