Patrick D.T. O'Connor received his engineering training at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Technical College and served for 16 years in the RAF Engineer Branch. Following a broad career that included posts as a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Lancaster, Leeds, and Cranfield (UK), he is now retired.

Andre V. Kleyner, PhD has over 30 years of engineering, research, consulting, and managerial experience specializing in the reliability of engineering systems designed to operate in severe environments. He spent his career in the automotive, defense, and medical devices industries and was a part-time lecturer at Purdue University. Andre Kleyner is also the editor of the Wiley Series in Quality and Reliability Engineering.