STLE Annual Meeting Education Courses

The STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition features 9 industry-specific education courses offered on Sunday and Wednesday. The schedule is designed to give attendees more flexibility when planning their conference attendance. All full day courses will start at 8 am and end by 5 pm. If you have questions regarding these courses, please contact Susan Luers, sluers@stle.org or 224-985-0015.
Please note only digital books will be available for each course.

ANNUAL MEETING COURSE SCHEDULE

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning
Course Chair: Nick Garabedian, Datin & Co-Chair Prathima Nalam, University of Buffalo

Course description coming soon.

Who should attend: Those from industry who want to learn whether to use machine learning and how to accomplish this, and for tribology students wanting to learn how to incorporate it into their research. The prerequisite for the course is an understanding of the basic principles of tribology, but a knowledge of MATLAB programming would be useful.

Advanced Lubrication 301
Course Chair: Farrukh Qureshi, The Lubrizol Corp.

Advanced Lubrication 301 covers the molecular structures and chemistries of lubricant additive types. Additives examined will include antioxidants, rust inhibitors, detergents, dispersants, antiwear additives, extreme pressure additives, friction modifiers and rheology and viscosity modifiers.

Who should attend: Engineers and scientists early/mid-career who want to brush up on their knowledge of lubricant additives. Lubricant additives provide several performance functions in the engine, transmission, gear, and electric vehicle systems.

Basic Lubrication 103
Course Chair: Monica Ford, Clariant Corporation

Course description coming soon.

Electric Vehicles 101
Course Chair: Carlos Sanchez, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)

The Electric Vehicle (EV) course provide an introduction to hardware, tribology, lubrication, thermal management and testing related to EV. The course starts with an overview of hybrid, fully battery and fuel cell electric vehicles. It covers the driveline systems of hybrid and full electric units. Then talk about lubricant, tribology and thermal management challenges and requirements for EV. Finally, talk about established test methods for EV fluid evaluation.

Who should attend: Students, engineers and scientists early/mid-career who are new to the electric vehicle industry or would like to brush up on fundamental knowledge of EV technologies and test methods.

Hydraulics
Course Chair: David Racke & Co-Chair Ethan Wood, Lucas Oil Products Inc.

Course description coming soon.

Metalworking Fluids 125
Course Chair: Stephanie Cole, Munzing

Course description coming soon.

Synthetics
Course Chair: Vasu Bala, TRCC

Course description coming soon.

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Advanced Lubrication 302
Course Chair: Michael Blumenfeld, ExxonMobil & Co-Chair Nashir Pesika

Advanced Lubrication 302 goes more in-depth on lubrication regimes, wear and wear mechanisms, as well as lubricant failure analysis. This course includes a series of lubricant failure analysis case studies on automotive engines, gears and bearings.

Who should attend: Maintenance engineers, lubrication engineers, lubricant designers, technical sales, mechanical engineers or anyone interested in taking the plunge into advanced tribological concepts.

Metalworking Fluids 240
Course Chair: Kevin Saunderson, BP Lubricants USA, Inc.

Course description coming soon.