Welcome to our community

Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report April 2011

Stop by or tune in anytime for technical insights and expert opinions.
 

So what’s the benefit of being an STLE member? There are many good ways to answer that question, but here is my favorite response. STLE is a community of professionals who can provide peer-to-peer insights about tribology and lubrication engineering.

While this statement has been true since the organization was founded in 1944, lately it has become a much more powerful incentive for a far greater audience of technical professionals. This is due to the fact that access to the amazing collection of experts who make up the STLE community is becoming much less constrained by geography or time.

Allow me to explain. The mechanisms for making this happen are quite simple. STLE has begun offering free podcasts, which are basically recorded interviews with experts, and Webinars, which are online technical presentations available for a modest charge in both live and recorded formats. This material, as well as a growing selection of online education courses, are all available as part of the new STLE University. Access is through our Web site, www.stle.org. 

The convenience of how people can get the information is significant. But the material itself is where STLE excels. As members tell me time and again, “STLE is all about one thing—content, content and content.” Outlets like podcasts and Webinars allow us to provide exceptional access to people who are pushing the boundaries of the field and those who are providing insight on day-today marketplace challenges.

The podcast series includes interviews with two winners of the STLE International Award, the society’s top technical honor. Those installments are with Drs. Said Jahanmir (International Award 1997) , who discusses his work on the tribology of the heart, and Hooshang Heshmat (International Award 2008), who is pioneering research work in the field of tribology known as powder lubrication.

If this sounds interesting but a bit too esoteric, there are also podcasts that tackle some of the hottest questions in the lubricants business. One good example is the fast-changing field of green lubricants. The speakers have included TLT contributing editor Neil Canter, who explored the question of what really constitutes a “green” lubricant, and Dr. Joe Perez of Penn State University, an authoritative voice on bio-based fuels and lubes.

Webinar presentations, which are more instructional and provide more subject matter depth, have covered real-world topics such as condition monitoring data interpretation and bearing failure analysis. While these are live presentations, a recorded version of the original Webinar is available through STLE University.

While this material is of interest to anyone involved in tribology and lubricants, it’s important to recognize that this is an extraordinary opportunity for people who are early careerists. Digital access to information is a convenient and low-cost way to learn from the giants in the field and to get ready to make your own future contributions.

There is, of course, one final word to be said about getting value from STLE. Even in a digital world, there’s still nothing like the opportunity to learn from hundreds of experts and meet colleagues in a face-to-face, collaborative environment.

That being said, the upcoming STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition, May 15-19 in Atlanta, provides just this sort of interaction and is well worth the time and cost to attend. In fact, register in advance of this month’s April 15 Early Bird Deadline and you will save $85 off the meeting fee. Details are available—where else?—at www.stle.org. 
 

You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.