The Timken Co. announced it will sponsor Design News' "Engineer of the Year" award.

Readers of Design News, a leading trade magazine covering mechanical and electromechanical design engineering, recently voted for the winner and the recipient will be announced in April.

"Engineers truly are the professionals who through their technical accomplishments are most responsible for the quality of life we have. We are honored that through the generosity of The Timken Co., we are able to recognize them for those accomplishments and spotlight them as the role models they are," said Dan Hirsh, Publisher of Design News.

"It is increasingly important to support the engineers of tomorrow," said Roger D. Knudsen, Vice President of Engineering for The Timken Co. "Engineering is the backbone of our company and programs such as this help to further develop those who will lead us into the next wave of engineering advancements." Timken and the former Torrington Co. have had a long-standing tradition of sponsoring the program since its inception in 1987.

Past winners of the Design News' Engineer of the Year award include: Paul Bevilaqua, whose design work at Lockheed Martin was instrumental in landing the largest aircraft contract in history; Tom Vos, Director of Safety Systems at TRW and prime force behind the development of auto safety systems; Alan Mulally, President of Boeing Commercial and leader of the design efforts for the Boeing 777; and Brian Muirhead, Jet Propulsion Lab/NASA engineer who led the Mars Pathfinder program. Timken bearings and steel can be found in all these applications.

The Timken Co. is a leading global manufacturer of highly engineered bearings and alloy steels and a provider of related products and services with operations in 26 countries. The company reported record sales of $4.5 billion in 2004 and employed approximately 26,000 at year-end.