Contributor: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Turbomachinery Laboratory

Please read the following message from the Turbo Lab Director Dr. Eric Petersen:

Dear TPS Community,

After much thought, consideration of feedback, and internal deliberation, I have made the very difficult decision to cancel the 49th Turbomachinery & 36th Pump Symposia (and short courses) scheduled for September 14 – 17, 2020 in Houston, Texas. We will however hold a virtual version of the TPS 2020 event later in 2020 (likely in early December), with details to follow over the next several weeks. The next face-to-face TPS and related short courses will be held in Houston as originally scheduled on December 13 – 16, 2021.

Of course, this heavy decision is based on a combination of factors but is due in large part to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Above all, I have the utmost concern for the health and safety of the Turbomachinery Laboratory staff, our local city and contracted support teams, and the many potential participants of the symposia. In addition, uncertainties in the regional, national, and international situation over the duration of the calendar year make planning for a live or even hybrid event extremely difficult at best. These uncertainties include the economic environment of the industry, fluid administrative constraints at all levels, and the future travel policies of engineering companies both large and small, among many others.

The Turbomachinery Laboratory coronavirus task force (Ashton Drollinger, Greg Gammon, Martha Barton, and myself) have been assessing all available information over the past few months, developing contingency plans, and managing the health and safety risks as well as the financial risks of the Turbo Lab research center. The information that many of you provided via our recent survey (with over 290 respondents) was a crucial component in our decision path. Thank you for participating in this process. We will continue to reach out to you over the coming weeks for additional, more-specific feedback concerning the 2020 virtual TPS, as it is our desire to make this event as informative and useful to the community as possible. Certainly many of our exhibitors, authors, attendees, and advisory committee members will have questions concerning the 2020 TPS. All of the related details and updates will be addressed through upcoming communications from the Turbo Lab staff, so please be on the lookout for more information and correspondence to follow. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me and the Turbo Lab staff if you have comments, questions, or concerns that you need us to address.

I wish everyone the very best as we all navigate through the next several months together. I very much look forward to providing a unique and informative virtual event in 2020 and to resuming the face-to-face symposia in 2021.

Sincerely,
Dr. Eric L. Petersen
Director, TEES Turbomachinery Laboratory
Professor and holder of the Nelson-Jackson Chair
J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering Texas A&M University epetersen@tamu.edu