Summer is (almost) here

By Dr. Selim Erhan, TLT Editor | TLT From the Editor June 2025

It’s important to step out of our comfort zones and refresh our minds.
An open book resting in the grass on a sunny day
Dear colleagues and friends: We are entering summer with another successful season behind us. We made significant strides, tackled new challenges and celebrated meaningful accomplishments in our field. I am sure there are even more exciting projects in front of you that are waiting just around the corner, but now we should enjoy the STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition, connect with our friends, listen to new ideas and add more new projects to our lists.

The STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition is more than just a gathering of professionals—it’s an opportunity to share ideas and hear about groundbreaking research in the tribology and lubricants field. It’s a great way to spark collaboration that helps shape the future of the industry. Whether you are reading this article before, during or after the conference, I hope you are/were able to attend and learn something new.

We also have the whole summer season in front of us. For some it will be warmer than we wish, but for most of us in the north, it will be a welcome time. Whatever the temperature, it is always wonderful to have some time off to be with family and friends, visit places that will change our environment and most of all to relax. It’s a good time to step away from our daily routines and recharge.

One of the most useful suggestions I have heard was to make sure we spend time doing something different than what we normally do, which will help us sharpen our minds and maybe even generate more ideas. Whether it’s finding a new hobby, exploring a new place or reading a book in a new field, stepping outside our comfort zones can refresh our minds. This can help us come up with new, unexpected ideas we didn’t think were possible.

As professionals in our industry, we are always looking for ways to change certain tasks or move forward with new ideas. Sometimes these thoughts don’t generate while at our workplace—they show up while on a jog, drinking coffee with a friend or simply staring up at the night sky. So as we move forward in these warm, summer months, I hope you are able to rest and find inspiration in new ways.

I wish everyone a wonderful summer!
 
Dr. Selim Erhan is president of Erbur Solutions in Trout Valley, Ill. You can reach him at selim.erhan251@gmail.com.