44th Annual Conference

Description

2025 Conference Theme: Rolling Towards Sustainability: Tires for A Greener Future

September 23 – 25, 2025

The University of Akron, Jean Hower Taber Student Union Ballroom, Akron Ohio, USA

The Tire Society – the scientific professional organization for the tire industry – welcomes authors and interested individuals to its 44th Annual Tire Science and Technology Meeting and Conference. This annual conference is a forum for engineers, scientists, users, policymakers, students, and advocates to learn about innovations that will drive our industry in the years ahead. By effectively communicating our knowledge and research, we can influence practices and policies and inspire innovation at all levels.

The Conference will include:

- Technical paper presentations
- A keynote address by an industry leader
- A plenary lecture by a recognized technical speaker
- Sponsor exhibits
- An awards banquet with a technical speaker
- Networking and continuing education

Keynote Speaker - Surendra K. Chawla: Senior Director, Global Innovation (Retired), The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company; Consultant, Polymer Industry Cluster, Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce, Akron, Ohio

Surendra Chawla retired from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company as a Senior Director of Global Innovation in 2018 after 40 years of service in different roles and responsibilities. He joined Goodyear in 1978 as a Senior Research Engineer in Corporate Research and rose through the ranks to Director and Head of the Goodyear Corporate Research in 2003 to 2008. In 2009, he was given the responsibility to lead Goodyear Global Innovation initiative. In this role, he championed the culture of open innovation in Goodyear to explore, assess and internalize external technologies for sustainable product and process leadership, and create new business opportunities in the mobility solution space of Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrical (CASE) vehicles. Created a global (including US, Europe, China, India, Singapore, Vietnam, and Brazil) R&D network of world-class universities, research institutes, national laboratories, IT and engineering services networks, suppliers, customers and start-ups; and successfully integrated dozens of new innovations into Goodyear new products, materials and manufacturing technology platforms. He is one of the founders of Goodyear Institute of Technology (GIT) – “forum for tire related technologies”. Hundreds of Goodyear associates around the world have benefited in expanding their knowledge and skill base. In January 2021, he joined Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce as a consultant to lead Polymer Industry Cluster Initiative to enhance collaboration among businesses and regional universities for sustainable economic growth of the Northeast Ohio region and local businesses. As a result of this effort, the Greater Akron region has been Designated as a Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA); this has led to an award of $51 million from EDA and a $31 million Innovation Hub award from the State of Ohio. These funds are designated to advance R&D efforts to speed up innovation for sustainability including sustainable sources of advance materials, workforce development and training, and promote entrepreneurial culture for start-ups. Surendra has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from India, Master and PhD from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, USA.

Plenary Lecturers -

Frederic Biesse, Senior Fellow, Physics and Modeling, Michelin

Title of Talk: Tire Wear Emissions and Air Quality: Current Insights and Pathways Toward a Sustainable Future

Frederic Biesse has been working for Michelin for 26 years. After earning a Master of Engineering degree from Central-Supélec, he worked for several years in the numerical analysis domain. He then joined the tire performance analysis team, initially focusing on noise performance then expanding his expertise to wear and later rolling resistance. M. Biesse became the manager of the tire performance analysis team focused on wear and rolling resistance. He is currently a Fellow (expert) in tire physics and performance modeling at the Michelin R&D center in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Damien Lim, Senior Principal Research, Physics and Modeling, Michelin

Title of Talk: Tire Wear Emissions and Air Quality: Current Insights and Pathways Toward a Sustainable Future

Damien Lim is a Tire Wear Performance Research Engineer at Michelin Americas R&D Center. In this role, he specializes in fundamental studies of tire wear mechanisms and the development of predictive tools and testing methodologies designed to optimize tire performance. Damien holds a Master of Engineering degree from Arts-et-Métier ParisTech and a Master of Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, both completed in 2007. He has 14 years of experience at Michelin where he has held various positions across multiple teams, including test engineering and NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) performance, before establishing himself in the tire wear performance team.

Banquet Speaker - Scott Sass, Director of Technology, Alterra