John A. Kocur, Jr. is a Machinery Engineer in the Plant Engineering Division at ExxonMobil Research & Engineering in Houston, Texas. He has worked in the turbomachinery field for 30 years. In his current capacity, he provides support to the downstream, upstream and chemical business within ExxonMobil with expertise on vibrations, rotor/thermo dynamics, failure analysis and health monitoring of rotating equipment. Prior to joining EMRE, he held the position of Manager of Product Engineering and Testing at Siemens Demag Delaval Turbomachinery. There Dr. Kocur directed the development, research, engineering and testing of the compressor and steam turbine product lines. He has also held positions with Pratt & Whitney and Amoco Corporation. Dr. Kocur has performed rotordynamic analysis of a wide range of rotating equipment including aircraft jet engines, space propulsion cryogenic turbopumps, and petrochemical machines. Dr. Kocur received his BSME (1978), MSME (1982) and Ph.D. (1991) from the University of Virginia and an MBA (1981) from Tulane University. He has authored papers on rotor instability, Morton Effect and bearing dynamics, lectured on hydrostatic bearings, has sat as a committee chairman for NASA Lewis and is a member of ASME. Currently, he holds positions within API as 617 chair, 684 chair, SP Chair and member of Subcommittee on Mechanical Equipment (SOME) Steering Committee and sits on the advisory committee for the Texas A&M Turbomachinery Symposium.