Mike Volk will teach his last short course at the 2018 symposium
In 1998, Volk was invited by former Turbo Lab director Dr. Dara Childs to develop a short course for the Pump Symposium. Twenty years later, Fundamentals of Centrifugal Pump and System Interaction has earned the reputation of the longest-running short course.
“I didn’t dream I’d still be teaching this course 20 years later. The topic of my course is an enduring one in the pump world and the course has continued to be of interest through the years,” said Volk.
The course is based on Volk’s book, Pump Characteristics and Applications, published in 1996 to reach pump owners. His 500 page workbook is an introduction to pump application, operation and maintenance which allows readers to correctly select pumps and to understand how they operate in a dynamic system.
Volk, from Illinois, is on the road to retirement. He has spent more than thirty years working in the industry and hopes to take a step back from work to spend more time with his family in California. After finishing his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering in 1973, Mike took his first job at Bechtel Corporation in California, where he worked for two years before accepting a job at Goulds Pump, Inc., first in Southern California, then in Houston. In 1982, Volk returned to California to start his own pump consulting company, Volk & Associates.
Roughly half of his business in recent years has involved teaching short courses such as the TPS course. Volk has sharpened his presentation skills through the years, a factor that contributed to the course’s popularity. The course has broken attendance records at the symposia, with close to 100 delegates showing up to learn about centrifugal pump and system interactions. Volk hopes he can draw another crowd at his final short course.
Volk will not stay to attend the symposia due to traveling conflicts. While this is his final TPS short course, he’s not retiring completely from his business. He hopes that closing out the course is the first step on a slow transition into retirement. Volk said he will continue to work selectively on interesting projects, and teach the occasional short course.
“This course has allowed me to travel and meet people with different life experiences and cultures from my own,” Volk said. “Thank you to all the great staff of Turbo Lab who have supported my course at the Symposium through the years. I hope to hear from people who wish to remain in touch.”
To view the full technical program for the 2018 Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia and register for Volk’s Fundamentals of Centrifugal Pump and System Interaction course, visit https://tps.tamu.edu/program/.
This course has allowed me to travel and meet people with different life experiences and cultures from my own. Thank you to all the great staff of Turbo Lab who have supported my course at the Symposium through the years.
Mike Volk
Registration is open online now and will be available onsite. For more information on TPS 2018, including the full technical program, event schedule, exhibiting company list, registration procedures and more, visit tps.tamu.edu.
The Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia is the premiere conference for rotating equipment engineers and technicians worldwide, spanning oil and gas, petrochemical, chemical, power, aerospace, and water industries. The expert-selected technical program combined with an international exhibition is the perfect platform for networking with and learning from colleagues, OEMs and end-users. TPS, founded in 1972, is organized by the Turbomachinery Laboratory, a center of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and member of The Texas A&M University System.
