Michael W. Volk, PE, is the president of Volk & Associates, Inc., Oakland, California, volkassociates.com, a consulting company specializing in pumps and pump systems. Volk's services include pump training seminars; pump equipment evaluation, troubleshooting, and field testing; expert witness for pump litigation; witnessing of pump shop tests; pump market research; and acquisition and divestiture consultation and brokerage. A member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and a registered professional engineer, Volk received his BS degree (1973) in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and his MS degree (1976) in mechanical engineering and his MS degree (1980) in management science from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He may be contacted at mike@volkassociates.com.