X. Z. Gao received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China in 1993 and 1996, respectively. He got his Doctor of Science in Technology degree from Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland in 1999. Since January 2004, he has been appointed as a Docent of Soft Computing Methods and Applications in the Helsinki University of Technology. He is also a Guest Professor of the Harbin Institute of Technology and Beijing City University, China. He has published more than 80 technical papers on refereed journals and international conferences. His current research interests are soft computing methods with applications in motor fault detection/diagnosis and control instrumentation. Dr. Gao is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Intelligent Automation and Soft Computing. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Applied Soft Computing Journal. He serves in the International Technical Committees of numerous recent conferences on soft computing and intelligent systems, and also acts as a regular reviewer for several IEEE top publications and conferences. Dr. Gao will be the General Chair of the 2005 IEEE Mid-Summer Workshop on Soft Computing Methods in Industrial Applications in Espoo, Finland. Research interests: Soft computing theory. Artificial immune systems. Soft computing in motor fault diagnosis. Reinforcement learning method. Power control using soft computing in mobile. communication systems.