Meet Our Instructors

Dr. GEORGE Szasz

Dr. Szasz holds a Ph.D. degree from Auburn University in Mechanical Engineering, and he is a certified Category 4 vibration analyst. He is currently a Principal at Stress Engineering Services and he is also the president of the board of directors of the Vibration Institute. Over the course of 25+ years as a vibration analyst, he has worked on and led numerous vibration analysis projects in the oil & gas and power generation industries.

Dr. Emanuele Grossi

Emanuele Grossi, Ph.D., P.E., is a Managing Engineer at Exponent. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and he is an ISO certified Category III vibration analyst through the Vibration Institute. His doctoral research focused on computational dynamics and vibration of machines and vehicles. Dr. Grossi performs vibration analysis, performance evaluation, and failure analysis of mechanical systems in various industries, but primarily in consumer products, automotive, industrial machinery, rail, and mining. He has provided expert witness testimony in the United States and internationally.

Bob Martin

Bob Martin is a CMRP and a Category Three Certified Vibration Analyst. Bob has been helping establish and support companies with their predictive maintenance programs for over 30 years. This work started with his time at Computation Systems followed by Emerson Process Management and PCB Piezotronics. His experience with spectrum analysis extends back over 40 years beginning with his work in the US Navy as an anti-submarine warfare systems operator, flying as aircrew, on P-3 Orion patrol aircraft.

- Mike Ingram

Mike Ingram, MSME, is a Vibration Institute Category IV Vibration Analyst since 2003, with over 30 years of experience in Condition Monitoring. He earned both a Bachelors and Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University working in the Texas A&M Turbomachinery Laboratory. He is a Senior Application Engineer for SKF analyzing data and developing Condition Monitoring hardware, software and programs. He has spent time in Pulp & Paper, Metals, Semiconductor, and Power Generation as well as supporting customers in a wide range of industries.

- Keith Chesser

Keith Chesser Jr., MSME, P.E., a Category Level IV Vibration Analyst, has over 30 years of experience in the design, build and qualification of manufacturing and test equipment. His thesis research was in the application of torsional vibrations for the nondestructive testing of pultrusion composite materials. He is currently a Reliability Lead for Berry Global and provides his plant with vibration condition-based monitoring of their textile manufacturing equipment.

- Ahmed A. El-Shafei

Ahmed A. El-Shafei, is a Vibration Institute Category III Vibration Analyst. He holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His current role is Senior Vibration Engineer at Mitsubishi Power Americas. He previously served as a Senior Engineer on the Predictive Diagnostics Team at Johnson Controls in Milwaukee, as well as a Vibration Analyst at relayr GmbH. Previously at RITEC, Ahmed had been involved in numerous Condition Monitoring & Troubleshooting activities across the MENA region in the Oil & Gas, Power Generation, Steel, and Marine Industries. He has taught 30+ Vibration CAT I, CAT II, and Shaft Alignment Courses, and is the sole developer of the RITEC Library & Tools Page providing free interactive simulators for: Vibration, Signal Processing, & Precision Maintenance, with more than 10,000 registered users.

- Jeffrey Mott

Jeff is a vibration specialist with Koontz-Wagner Services (South Bend, Indiana). He has 10 years of experience as a vibration analyst and PdM technician serving a wide range of industries including Automotive, Steel, Petro-Chemical, Agricultural, Plastics and Foundries. He also has extensive experience troubleshooting complex electronic systems and is a proud veteran of the United States Navy. Jeff is a Certified Category III Vibration Analyst & Balancing Field Specialist with the Vibration Institute. He also holds Level II certification in Infrared Thermography, Ultrasonics and Magnetic Particle Testing, as well as certification in MCA/MCE & Airborne Ultrasound.

- Ares Panagoulias  

Ares Panagoulias directs the sales, operations, and engineering of IIOT Condition Monitoring products and services for Hydro in the Hydro Centaur business unit. He works directly with customers to analyze data to improve rotating equipment maintenance strategies, increase availability, and reduce downtime in the Nuclear, Power Utility, Pipeline, and Oil & Gas industries.

In addition, Ares is responsible for operations and management of all functions related to testing of high energy pumps, primarily for the Nuclear (safety and non‐safety related), Power Utility, Pipeline, and Oil & Gas industries at Hydro’s Pump Test Lab. He has contributed to numerous internal and external R&D projects, including ongoing efforts to improve condition monitoring equipment in field installations.

- Kaitlin Spak

Kaitlin Spak, Ph.D., P.E., is a Principal Engineer at Exponent, a multi-disciplinary scientific and engineering consulting company. She received her PhD in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech in 2014 with a dissertation focused on cable harness effects on space structures, including dynamic response and vibration. Dr. Spak worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory before joining Exponent, where her work currently includes vibration analysis of consumer products, vehicles, heavy equipment, rotating machinery, power plants, manufacturing facilities, chemical processing plants, utility and energy infrastructure, and more. Dr. Spak holds professional engineering licenses in multiple states and is an ISO certified category IV vibration analyst through the Vibration Institute. She has provided expert testimony around the world in both domestic and international litigation and arbitrations, and is a member of technical committees for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the United States Eventing Association (USEA).

- Shawn Covington

Shawn Covington, is a vibration specialist with Horner Industrial Group (Indianapolis, Indiana). He has over 16 years of experience in the field as a vibration analyst working in a broad range of industries including steel manufacturing, food processing, auto manufacturing, paper mills, chemical/pharmaceutical plants, commercial residence and farming applications. Shawn is certified and experienced in field balancing as well as a Cat III Vibration analyst with the Vibration Institute.

- Barry T. Cease

Barry T. Cease is President of Cease Industrial Consulting, Charleston, SC and co-owner of Custom Machinery Solutions, Bristol, VA. Mr. Cease holds a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and is an ISO certified category IV vibration analyst though the Vibration Institute. He spent 14 years as an engineer in the Paper & Pulp industry where his work focused on predictive maintenance & reliability. In 2006 he started his company Cease Industrial Consulting which provides predictive maintenance & reliability services to customers in a wide range of industries. He is a member of the Institute’s Board of Directors and ASME.

- Stan Bognatz

Stan Bognatz, P.E. is President of M&B Engineered Solutions, Inc., a company providing vibration analysis, balancing, alignment, and predictive maintenance services for rotating equipment users, along with providing condition monitoring systems design, installation & service, and customer-training. Over 30 years of vibration analysis & reliability experience in power generation, petrochemical, pulp/paper, and wastewater facilities, and provides specific support for power generation clients, with extensive experience on large gas, steam and hydro-turbines. Prior to 2005, he managed and staffed Bently Nevada’s Machinery Diagnostic Services (MDS) team for almost 20 years. Stan is a certified Category IV Vibration Analyst through the Vibration Institute and has authored & presented technical papers covering diagnostic techniques, balancing, modal analysis, optical alignment, condition monitoring systems, and lube oil analysis, among others. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Wilkes University. He is also a registered Professional Engineer in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and is a Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP).

- Brad Barton

Brad Barton has over 25 years’ experience in troubleshooting rotating equipment and structural problems. Prior to focusing on vibration, he worked in the plastics industry, cement production industry, and ran steam turbine/generator overhaul projects. He has worked with customers across many heavy industries to solve a wide variety of problems. Brad hold a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Indiana State University, and has been a Certified Category IV Vibration Analyst since 1996 through the Vibration Institute.

- Nelson Baxter

Nelson L. Baxter is President of ABM Technical Services, Inc. and co-founder of Machinery Health Monitoring and Electro-mechanical Diagnostic Services. His 34 years of experience in the utilities industry include trouble-shooting rotating equipment, structural testing, and balancing. He is a contributing editor of Sound & Vibration Magazine, a Registered Professional Engineer, a Level IV Certified Vibration Analyst and Instructor for Level IV Class. Baxter holds an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University. 

- Jack Peters

Jack D. Peters, Accelent Technology LLC, provides consulting services for vibration analysis training and applications. Prior to forming Accelent Technology LLC in 2017, Mr. Peters was the Vice President of International Sales for Connection Technology Center, Inc. (2004-2016), and his international responsibilities included Asia-Pacific, Canada, and India. He worked at Eastman Kodak Company, Inc. (1977-2004) measuring, monitoring, and analyzing vibration problems on process manufacturing machines for photographic films and papers. He holds an AOS degree, an AAS degree, and is a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP). Certified as a Category IV Vibration Analyst in accordance with ISO 18436-2, Mr. Peters is an Instructor and a Member of the Board of Directors for the Vibration Institute.

- Bob Sayer

Bob Sayer, P.E. is the Past President of the Vibration Institute and a Sr Consultant at Mechanical Solutions, Inc (MSI).  He has over forty-five years of experience as a mechanical and structural engineering consultant to a wide range of industries including pulp & paper, mining & metals, fossil-fuel & nuclear power generation, petrochemical, food processing, glass manufacturing, and aerospace & defense. Mr. Sayer provides analytical and experimental dynamic analysis of mechanical equipment for design projects, structural and mechanical failure studies, and process reliability and efficiency studies. Mr. Sayer holds engineering degrees from Ohio University (BSCE), Cleveland State University (MSIE), and Purdue University (MSCE). He had the honor and fortune of collaborating with the late Art Crawford, a pioneer of vibration analysis, on numerous projects. Mr. Sayer is a regular contributor at technical conferences and has published over 50 technical articles and co-authored 2 chapters in “The Simplified Handbook of Vibration Analysis”.  He is a co-author of the “Advanced Vibration Control” training manual and the author of the “Advanced Vibration Diagnostics” training manual.

- Monroe Voyles

Monroe Voyles, P.E. is a mechanical engineer with more than 20 years of experience in and across the chemical, oil & gas, pump improvement and many more industries, most recently serving as a solutions engineer for ITT Goulds Pumps. His experience with large electric motors, gas turbines, centrifugal compressors, reciprocating compressors, steam turbines, large API pumps, ANSI pumps, liquid ring compressors, cooling tower fans/gear boxes, and large compressor gear boxes make him the perfect candidate to teach for the Vibration Institute. Monroe graduated with a B.S.M.E from Louisiana State University in 1994 and became a Professional Engineer in Louisiana in 2002 and Texas in 2014. He is a CAT IV Vibration Analyst.

- Tom Walter

Tom Walter has over 40 years’ experience in the assessment of machinery components. He has worked for both large and small companies involving product development and technical support. His career has involved equipment ranging from machinery on nuclear submarines to implantable blood pumps to hydro, steam and wind turbine generators to flywheel energy storage systems. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 technical publications. Tom holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton and an MBA from the College of William and Mary. He is a Certified Category IV Vibration Analyst, and a member of ASME. For more than 20 years he was chairman of the Hudson-Mohawk chapter of the Vibration Institute.

- Tom Olson

Tom Olson is one of the owners of AVS Engineering and works as a consultant troubleshooting vibration issues on rotating machinery. His prior work experience includes working as a plant engineer at Xcel Energy as well as a machinery diagnostics engineer at Bently Nevada. A few highlights from his career include numerous successful balancing programs carried out on steam and gas turbines, diagnosing a shaft crack on a heavy duty gas turbine, and identifying/resolving resonance issues. Tom holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Minnesota. When he isn’t working machinery vibration problems his hobbies include hunting, hiking, snowboarding, and cross country skiing.