Reinhard Lerch (M’85–SM’03–F’12) was born in Lauterbach, Germany, in 1953. He received the master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany, in 1977 and 1980, respectively.,From 1977 to 1981, he was with the Institute of Electroacoustics, Technical University of Darmstadt, where he was involved in the development of a new type of audio transducer based on piezoelectric polymer foils. From 1981 to 1991, he was with the Research Center of Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany, where he was involved in implementation of new computer tools supporting the design and development of piezoelectric transducers. From 1991 to 1999, he was a Full Professor of mechatronics with the University of Linz, Linz, Austria. He was the Chairman of the ITG (VDE) Scientific Sub-Committee for Electroacoustics, Frankfurt, Germany, in 2012. From 2015 to 2016, he was the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering with Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen–Nuremberg Erlangen, Germany, and then appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering in 2016. Since 1999, he has been the Head of the Chair of Sensor Technology with the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen–Nuremberg. He has authored more than 200 papers in electromechanical sensors and actuators, transducers, acoustics, and signal processing. His current research interests include establishing a computer-aided design environment for electromechanical sensors and actuators, particularly piezoelectric ultrasound transducers and microacoustic components, and piezoelectric and magnetic sensors in thin-film technology.,Dr. Lerch is a member of the Technical Program Committee of the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. He was a recipient of the Award of the German Nachrichtentechnische Gesellschaft for his work on piezopolymer microphones in 1982, the German Philipp-Reis-Award in 1991, the Outstanding Paper Award of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control (UFFC) Society for his publication Simulation of Piezoelectric Devices by 2- and 3-D Finite Elements, in 1990, and the Distinguished Service Award in 2009. He served in the Administrative Committee of the UFFC Society. He was an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.