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President's Message > May 2008
STLE's bright future!
In a strict geographic sense, Philadelphia and Cleveland are not that far apart. For me, however, the year-long journey that began at the STLE annual meeting in Philadelphia took quite a circuitous route to end up at the Cleveland counterpart, where my successor is taking office. I had the opportunity to meet with members throughout the United States, as well as Canada, the United Kingdom and the Ukraine. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president!
STLE continues to make progress on a number of important fronts. Access to reliable, up-to-date information continues to be a top priority. Our journal, Tribology Transactions, is now published six times a year (up from quarterly). STLE's upgraded Web site will soon be up and running, and TLT continues to provide timely information.
Participation is up at both the annual meeting and the International Joint Tribology Conference. We continue to make progress on the STLE 2010 project, where we're looking to update the structure and governance of the society to bring it in line with current best practices in association management.
You will soon be asked to consider some very significant changes to STLE's constitution. I urge you to vote "yes" on these changes because when the organizational structure adapts to the times, it allows STLE to respond to your needs as members and offer more opportunities for meaningful volunteer involvement. This will assist with attracting the future generations of professionals that will sustain the organization in the years ahead.
Of course, all of this is possible only through the efforts of a large group of volunteers and staff. I've thanked a number of them in this column throughout the year, and to name everyone would require all the pages in this magazine. To all who gave so generously of your time, thank you! In particular, I want to thank my management at the General Motors Corp. for supporting me this year and all the years I have served STLE.
My thanks also to STLE Executive Director Ed Salek and the entire STLE staff, the finest group of professionals with whom I have ever served. I couldn't have done this without the support of Dr. Jean K. Becker, the best spouse, friend, partner and mentor a person could hope for and certainly better than I deserve (but, to paraphrase Jack Benny, I have high cholesterol and I don't deserve that, either).
I now leave the task of writing this monthly column, and so many other tasks, to STLE's new president, Robert Bruce of GE Aircraft Engines. I have the utmost confidence that Bob and the entire board of directors will continue the work of planning a brighter future for STLE.
It's been a great year for STLE. Let's make next year even better!
Ed Becker is a technical specialist in materials engineering with GM Corp. in Pontiac, Mich. You can reach him at edward.p.becker@gm.com.
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