The Turbomachinery Laboratory, host of the Asia Turbomachinery & Pump Symposium (ATPS), has named the chair and vice chair for its second biennial event.
Dag O. Calafell, II, was named chair of ATPS 2018 earlier this week. Calafell has 40 years of experience in management, engineering, and operations in the oil and gas industry with end-users, namely Exxon, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries, and with machinery manufacturers.
ATPS 2018, set for March 13-15 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, marks the second biennial ATPS, modeled after the longstanding Houston Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia (TPS), held annually since 1972. ATPS is an international assembly for turbomachinery and pump end-users and manufacturers. It features a renowned technical program that is hand-selected by an advisory committee of engineers, and an international exhibition. The inaugural 2016 event drew more than 900 attendees from 38 countries.
“ATPS is an invaluable networking opportunity for end-users and suppliers alike—made even more essential at this time of flux for the industry,” Calafell said. “I look forward to a robust, meaningful symposium sharing leadership insights and successes that strengthen our industry. Together we can create opportunities despite the challenges we face.”
Calafell is a member of the Turbomachinery Advisory Committee, an organization of industry experts who oversee the highly-regarded TPS. Before retiring earlier this year, Calafell was chief machinery engineer at ExxonMobil Upstream. He has published multiple papers on machinery and flow phenomena and holds several patents. Calafell earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Clarkson University and continued his studies at Columbia University. He sat on Texas A&M University’s Multi-Phase Pump User’s Group Advisory Board and on American Petroleum Institute (API) committees for machinery standards. Calafell has served as associate editor for the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) and as a member of the Hydraulic Institute, the Society of Reliability Engineers, the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He will be a keynote panelist at the 2017 ASME Turbo Expo in Charlotte.
Manoj Gupta, a member of the Asia Turbomachinery Advisory Committee, will serve as vice chair for the second biennial ATPS. Gupta, director of digital solutions at Dresser-Rand—A Siemens Business, holds a bachelor’s degree in naval and ocean engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Houston. He has published multiple papers in the field of turbomachinery, has a patent and is recognized as a centrifugal compressor expert with expertise in high-pressure compression application. Gupta was instrumental in facilitating the inaugural ATPS technical program and advising and assisting symposium leadership and staff. His leadership in the Asia region is a key foundational element for the continued success of ATPS.
“Our industry can benefit from digital disruption to transform our practices,” Gupta said. “By collaborating on solutions through venues like ATPS, we can enhance our sustainability. We have adapted in the past and we can now.”
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The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Turbomachinery Laboratory conducts basic and applied research into important problems of reliability and performance of turbomachinery—rotating machinery that extracts or adds energy to fluids, including everything from classic Dutch windmills to the space shuttle’s main engine turbopumps and compressors. The Turbo Lab offers engineering education through Texas A&M University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and provides continuing education opportunities to industry professionals with symposia and short courses, advancing Texas A&M’s land-grant charter tradition of education, research and service.
