Tribology Minor Industrial Advisory Board

Dr. Larry Beaver is Vice President of Research & Development at RSC Bio Solutions. He oversees R&D and regulatory functions for the EnviroLogic®, and FUTERRA™ products.For over 30 years Dr. Beaver has been actively involved in the commercialization of safer consumer and industrial chemical products. His current research efforts focus on VGP-compliant cleaners, gear oils, greases and hydraulic fluids for land and marine applications.Dr. Beaver is the principal inventor on more than 14 patents. He is an active member of STLE and NLGI and currently serves on the Industry Advisory Board for the Tribology Minor in the College of Engineering at Auburn University.Dr. Beaver was granted a B.A. in Chemistry and Biology at Cedarville University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Vasu Bala completed his PhD and Post Doctoral studies in Chemical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. His research interest lies in the fundamentals of grease & lubricant rheology, additive synthesis and formulation development, mechanics of elastohydrodynamics and boundary lubrication, electrorheology, lubricant and material durability, wear characterization and frictional behavior. Dr. Bala was employed at Afton Chemical, Cognis-Henkel and BASF Corporations from 1993 to 2017, serving various capacities as Technical Advisor and Global Technical Director. Dr. Bala is currently employed by Tiarco LLC as Global Technical & Quality Director. His responsibilities include developing new grease & lubricant technologies for North American, European, Japanese, & Chinese automotive OEM driveline and industrial systems. Current and past affiliations: Alpha Chi National Honor Society, Tau Beta Phi National Engineering Honor Society, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), TAE Germany, Industrial Tribology-UK, Society of Tribologists & Lubrication Engineers (STLE), National Lubricating Grease Institute (NLGI) and Who’s Who for Outstanding Scientists.

Tim Hall graduated from Auburn in 2014 with a BS in mechanical engineering and a tribology minor. Tim Hall was one of the first 5 students to graduate with the tribology minor and was given the opportunity to do research for Dr. Jackson in the tribology lab. Tim also went through Auburn's cooperative education program, working 2 semesters for Goodyear Tire and 2 semesters for Packaging Corporation of America. Tim started his career after college as a paper machine reliability engineer for Georgia Pacific in Perry, Florida. After about 2 months in this role, Tim was given the opportunity to lead the lubrication program in Perry. After serving in this role for about 1 year, Tim took a position as a regional reliability engineer for the building products division and has remained in that position for the past 5 years. Tim currently serves as the Lumber and Plywood division SME for Lubrication and Fluid Power and has had the opportunity to design lubrication programs from scratch for 3 brand new state of the art lumber mills. Tim Hall is also a licensed professional engineer in the state of North Carolina.

Maureen Hunter holds a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. She is the Technical Service Manager of the Lubricant Additives Division at King Industries, Inc. in Norwalk, CT. She has been with King Industries since 1993. Maureen was the 2014-2015 President of STLE and the Editor of STLE’s TLT magazine from 2007-2009. She is currently STLE’s STEM Ambassador and on the Board of Directors for NLGI. Maureen joined the Auburn University Tribology Minor Advisory Board in 2011. Maureen has several technical publications to her merit.

Joe Kaperick is a Senior R&D Advisor for Greases at Afton Chemical Corporation. Joe received a MS (R) Degree in Analytical Chemistry from St. Louis University as well as undergraduate degrees in Chemistry, Fine Arts and Classical Humanities. He has been in Afton’s Industrial R&D area with a primary focus on Grease since 1999. Joe is currently serving as Previous Past President on the Board of NLGI and has been recognized as a Certified Lubricating Grease Specialist. He is also an active participant and contributor in other industry organizations including STLE, ASTM and ELGI.

John Sander, Vice President of Research & Development, Lubrication Engineers, Inc., has a BS in chemistry from Wichita State University and an MS in environmental science from Friends University. In 1989 he began his career at Lubrication Engineers, where he has been responsible for a variety of lubricant quality, formulation and testing activities. He holds CLS and OMA I certifications from STLE, and a CLGS certification from NLGI. His memberships include SAE, NLGI, ACS and STLE. He has authored or co-authored 20+ technical and marketing papers and one book chapter (Chapter 13: “Petroleum Oil Hydraulic Fluids” in the Handbook of Hydraulic Fluid Technology). He is a past winner of the NLGI Author’s Award.

Dr. Shah is a Director at Koehler Instrument Company, in Long Island, NY where he has been working for the past 25 years. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, PA and is a Fellow from the Chartered Management Institute in London. Shah also has the distinction of being the only person to hold all 6 of these highly coveted certifications: CPC, CChE, CEng, CSci, CChem, and CPEng., and the singular honor of being an elected Fellow by his peers at these international professional organizations: namely, STLE, NLGI, AIC, EI, InstMc, CMI, Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and the Institution of Chemical Engineers ( IChemE) Dr. Shah has been active with this advisory board for the last five years Shah is a recipient of the PM Ku medal from STLE, multiple awards from ASTM including the Eagle award, and the Bellanti Memorial award from NLGI. He has served on the board of directors of NLGI for 15 years and is currently on the STLE board of directors. He has over 300 publications and has co- edited 2 reference bestsellers.Raj is a Certified Professional Chemist and a Certified Chemical Engineer with the National Certification Commission in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. He has also been awarded the Chartered Scientist status from the Science Council, the Chartered Chemist status from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Chartered Engineer status from the Engineering council, UK, and the Chartered Petroleum Engineer title from the Energy Institute. Designated as an eminent engineer with the Tau Beta Pi fraternity, Dr. Shah is fluent in multiple languages, and enjoys working with young engineers, kayaking, mobile photography and lives in Melville, NY with his family. He is currently the co-chair of the Tribology minor advisory board

Zhang is experienced in lubricant design, testing, and manufacturing for various applications. He earned Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with emphasis of tribology and advanced lubricant development. He is currently working for drive system engineering of Tesla and leading fluid engineering and lubricant related subjects for all current and future Tesla platforms (Model S/X/3/Y, Semi, etc.). He is responsible and involved in subjects related to cooling and lubrication of Tesla drive units. Zhang developed and published lubrication and cooling specifications in the electric vehicle field. With advanced fluid development along with cooling and lubrication design, efficiency, durability, and continuous power of vehicles are improved. Zhang has won multiple awards including SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, Edison Award, and Journal of Tribology Best Reviewer. He is also a member of ASME, SME, STLE, NLGI and ASTM, and serving as associate editor of ASME Journal of Tribology.