The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) has given Product Development Engineer Dr Chris Dyson and his colleagues the Walter D. Hodson Award.
The Walter D. Hodson Award honours one of STLE’s founding fathers. It is given to the lead author of the best paper written by an STLE member 35 years of age or younger and published by the society in the previous year. The purpose of the award is to stimulate the interest of young engineers in the science of tribology and lubrication and the activities of STLE.
The award was given for the paper “Representative Tribometer Testing of Wire Rope Fretting Contacts: The Effect of Lubrication on Fretting Wear. This project was one output from several years of collaborative research on wire rope tribology between ROCOL, The School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds, and the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics at the University of Bradford.
Chris said, “This is really an award for the whole project team. I’m thankful to my co-authors, colleagues and everyone who has been involved in this. The collaborative work this paper describes has been a huge success. It has given us all great insight into fretting wear and lubrication, facilitated conversations in the wire rope industry about the importance of lubrication and running-in in maximising asset life, and given students opportunities to work on industrially linked research projects. We are grateful to STLE for giving us this award.”
The co-authors who also received this award were: Dr Richard Chittenden (University of Leeds), Professor Martin Priest and Professor Malcolm Fox (both University of Bradford), and Dr Bill Hopkins (retired Technical Director at ROCOL).
Prof Priest, who also received an award, said: “Chris is an outstanding researcher, innovator and practitioner who I have worked with throughout his career; from undergraduate student to PhD student and then KTP Associate at ROCOL, and now as a collaborator in research. The work we do together champions student research projects, and the many students we have worked with have been inspired by the experience of working on innovative projects of genuine value to industry
Maintaining and nurturing long-term relationships with high technology companies such as ROCOL is vital to academia, as it grounds everything we do in the demands of international industry. ROCOL often seeks the views of trusted academics such as Malcolm, Richard and I, on their latest challenges, and their staff, notably Chris in this instance, contribute their skills and experience to the University sector.”
The STLE is the premier technical society for tribologists and lubrication engineers. It has 250 member companies and over 13,000 individuals as members, many of whom are employed by the world’s leading corporations, academic institutions and government agencies.
