Let’s meet at the surface! We’re excited to kick off a new series of free, in-person seminars covering surface texture measurement, analysis, and application!
Seminar 1: Creating surfaces with “high quality” look and feel
Join us March 4, 2026 for an in-depth discussion of surface texture for touch and visual applications, sponsored by Michigan Metrology, LLC.
So much engineering goes into making surfaces that look great and have excellent grip, slip resistance, and tactile feedback. We’ll look at how to specify, measure, and analyze tactile and aesthetic surfaces, and we’ll examine the aspects of surfaces that create a feeling of “quality.”
Bruker will be on hand to measure parts and discuss methods for controlling surface feel and appearance.
Presenters
“Physics Informed AI to optimize the look and feel of surfaces”
The look and feel of consumer products depend on their surface topography. However, the design and control of consistent, high-quality surfaces are hampered by outdated methods of measuring and analyzing surfaces.
Recent advances in the science of surface topography provide novel insights. The worldwide Surface-Topography Challenge has shown new ways to characterize surfaces, while multi-scale mechanics models can describe surface performance.
Now, physics-informed AI is transforming surface manufacturing. Those scientific insights are combined with a data-guided approach for model selection and parameterization. The result is the rapid discovery of key drivers of surface performance, while running on small datasets, and solving AI’s famous interpretability problem.
Tevis Jacobs, PhD, is CEO of Surface Design Solutions. Tevis has been advancing the science of surfaces in manufacturing for 21 years. His degrees are from the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and the University of Cambridge. As Whiteford Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh, he was awarded the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, as well as over $5 million in research funding, producing more than 60 publications. He launched Surface Design Solutions with two co-founders to translate his cutting-edge research in surface optimization for use in real-world manufacturing.
“Seeing, Feeling, and Measuring”
Dr. Mark Malburg lives in a world full of surfaces. He specializes in interpreting how surface textures and geometries can affect how things function. Will a seal leak? Will a bearing chatter? Will paint stick? These are the kinds of questions he gets asked, and he answers, every day.
Dr. Malburg is the president of Digital Metrology Solutions. With more than 35 years in surface metrology, he is the chief architect of a range of standard and custom software products for surface texture and shape analysis. Dr. Malburg is a co-author of “The Surface Texture Answer Book” and has consulted in numerous industries ranging from aerospace to optics. He participates in National and International standards committees and has helped drive many of the world’s standards that govern surface specification and control.
“Analyzing Painted Surface Texture”
A review of the various instruments and analysis techniques used for substrate surface texture measurement will be presented as related to final paint appearance as measured by the BYK Wave-Scan device. Correlation of texture measurements of coated and uncoated steel substrates prior to and after E-Coat along with final painted surface BYK Wave-Scan measurements will be presented. The industry standard substrate measurement, SAE J911 longwave cutoff of 0.8mm will be compared to proposed cutoffs that may better predict final paint appearance for steel substrates.
Dr. Cohen is the founder of Michigan Metrology, LLC. which was established in 1994, to provide industries with 3D surface texture, flatness and wear measurement and analysis services. Dr. Cohen’s holds a B.S. / M.S. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Optical Sciences. Prior to forming Michigan Metrology, Dr. Cohen was with IBM in the data storage area and then later with WYKO Corporation developing surface metrology instrumentation and analyses for various industries. Since forming Michigan Metrology, Dr. Cohen has been providing surface texture related solutions to clients throughout the automotive, medical device, chemical and material sciences industries. Dr. Cohen has served as Chairman of the ANSI/ASME B46.1 Surface Texture Standards committee from 2005-2011.
Bruker will be on hand to measure parts and discuss methods for controlling surface feel and appearance. Bring a few samples!
Location:
Powerscourt, 17199 N. Laurel Park Dr. Livonia, MI 48152
Lower Level Conference Center
Schedule:
Light breakfast: 8:30 am
Seminar: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Box Lunch: 12:00 pm
One-on-One sessions with presenters: 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Cost: FREE
For more details email Don Cohen, doncohen@michmet.com.
Michigan Metrology is a Bruker Value Added Partner.