Mohamad S. El-Zein has been with John Deere for 30 years and is currently the Manager of Advanced Materials and Mechanics. He is also John Deere Fellow in Materials. Dr. El-Zein obtained his PhD in Engineering Mechanics with emphasis on carbon fiber reinforced composites from Virginia Tech in 1989. He leads the Advanced Joining Group (Welding, Adhesive, and Bolted Joints), the Advanced Materials Group, and the Mechanics Group at the Moline Technology Innovation Center. Dr. El-Zein also spent much of his career in modeling and simulation and has a deep knowledge of product verification and validation. He has published research on composites, modeling and simulation, fatigue, welding, heat treating, adhesives, and computational welding simulation and analysis, and also holds over 15 patents.