Thomas Bäck (Fellow, IEEE) received the Diploma degree in Computer Science in 1990 and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science in 1994, both from the University of Dortmund, Germany. He is Professor of Computer Science with the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, Netherlands. His research interests include evolutionary computation, machine learning, and their real-world applications, especially in sustainable smart industry and health.