SAE Young Engineer of the Year Keeps Honor in Perspective
At the early age of 34, Mike Kotzalas, a Timken technical group leader in application and design engineering, has built a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable authorities on bearing technology and performance. Some might say he wrote the latest book on the subject. But the soft-spoken Kotzalas prefers to shift the spotlight to family, teachers and colleagues he credits for prompting a fortunate series of events that helped him achieve more than he had imagined for himself.
Mike Kotzalas grew up in Pittsburgh, where he was raised on football, good food and family traditions – the most enduring of which seems to be engineering. His grandfather and father, who immigrated to the United States from Greece, were engineers. During Mike’s childhood his father, Nick Kotzalas, worked on government-classified projects at the Westinghouse nuclear lab. Unable to talk about his work, he brought home copies of trade publications Design News and Machine Design to share with his children. “I used to read them as a kid,” Kotzalas says, noting the early indication of his interest in mechanical works. “It just seemed natural; I don’t think it was ever a choice I needed to make.”
Mike’s sister Margaret Kotzalas was similarly inspired to pursue the family trade. He proudly points out that after earning her master’s degree, she followed their father’s footsteps to become a nuclear engineer, and now works with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C.
In his work, Mike relies on complex mathematical calculation of dynamic loading to predict bearing fatigue in high-stress applications such as aircraft landing gear. But when it came to making vital decisions that would direct the course of his career and family life, the young engineer simply followed his heart.
Mike met his future wife Laurie Nickerson in the summer before his last undergraduate semester at Penn State University. Their courtship cultivated continuing scholarship on Mike’s part, which he hadn’t originally planned, but was motivated to pursue rather than risk losing touch with his newfound love. “She still had two years left, so I figured I’d better find some reason to stick around, and I ended up getting my master’s degree,” Mike said.
While Laurie completed her degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Mike earned his M.S. in mechanical engineering. Seeking funding to continue, he taught for a year and then met Ted Harris, a professor specializing in the science of bearings. While this specialty wasn’t Mike’s first choice (he had been interested in vibration and noise reduction), it was one of few research projects with available funding.
Mike says he knew little about bearings at the time, but made the most of the opportunity. After a year of working together, Ted Harris approached him with another offer: two more years of school, with funding and support to help Mike earn a PhD in that amount of time. Mike was doubtful, as he and Laurie were both soon to graduate and eager to embark on married life as gainfully employed professionals.
Yet upon hearing this news, his wife’s response was, “Are you crazy? You can’t pass up this opportunity!” Thus prompted, Mike obtained a PhD in bearing technology.
The professor who guided him through the doctoral program then introduced Mike to the American Bearing Manufacturer’s Association, and also referred him to people at The Timken Company, where he landed an internship. The following year, in 1999, Mike joined Timken as a product development engineer.
His first assignment at Timken provided a new type of technical challenge – integrating the company’s specifications for product design with those of a Romanian facility Timken had acquired. Mike quickly learned to navigate cultural and language differences working in Romania with a team of engineers to design and launch of a new line of large-bore cylindrical and spherical roller bearings to Timken’s performance standards. Today, that plant supplies top-quality bearings all over the world.
Ted Harris kept track of Mike’s progress at Timken, and it wasn’t long before he presented another challenge to the young engineer he had mentored. Retiring after 30 years in industry and 10 years teaching, Ted asked Mike to co-author the update of his book – one engineers all over the world regard as the quintessential “bible” on bearings – Rolling Bearing Analysis (CRC Press, New York). Ted had every intention of ensuring a successor to keep the well-established reference he had written alive beyond his years: “I see a bit of my younger self in his approach to the profession and life,” Ted reasoned. He also liked Mike’s drive and determination, qualities he sensed would sustain Mike as the sole author in the future.
Mike was busier than ever, with increasing work responsibilities and two preschoolers at home. Nonetheless, he was honored by the confidence placed in him, Mike agreed to take on the labor as a personal project during evenings and weekends. Mike had to compile and analyze enormous amounts of new information and consult with experts around the world to rewrite existing chapters and provide technical details addressing new technology developments since the previous edition. This extended what had been a single text into two volumes. The first, Essential Concepts of Bearing Technology, covers fundamentals, while the second, Advanced Concepts of Bearing Technology, delves into complex topics more suited to bearing engineers analyzing performance in dynamic extremes.
As industrial references go, the book sells well, with more than 10,000 copies sold to engineers in the aerospace, off-highway and automotive fields since its initial publication. It is widely used by mechanical engineers as a desk reference, and in continuing education courses and graduate studies.
Mike’s research and contributions to the study of tribology – characteristics of friction, lubrication and wear of surfaces interacting while in motion – have made him somewhat of a celebrity in his field. Often, he is asked to teach, address conferences, contribute to research and report findings about his work. Even today, between his children’s t-ball games and school events, it’s not uncommon for Mike to devote extra personal time to delve into technical issues that have engaged his interest, such as developing precise models for bearing wear in wind turbines. Such immersion keeps Mike current in his area of expertise, and provides valuable insights that ultimately help improve the performance, efficiency and safe operation of virtually every kind of moving apparatus – from planes and trains, to machinery and windmills.
“If you ask me what I like to do when I’m away from work, I guess part of my answer, aside from being with my family, has to be ‘more work,’” Mike says with a smile, leaving no doubt he is doing exactly what he was meant to do.