Damir Z. Arov is Professor in Mathematics at South-Ukrainian National Pedagogical University in Odessa. He introduced the notion of ε-entropy (predating the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy), is one of the authors behind the Adamyan-Arov-Krein theory used in H∞ control, and developed passive systems theory and the theory of J-contractive matrix-valued functions. He has written approximately 200 journal articles and co-authored three monographs with Professor Harry Dym. Professor Arov, is an honorary doctor from Åbo Akademi University, Finland, and has received the Krein prize from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.