NASA's Robert Cooke Wins IPC President’s Award

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In recognition of his significant contributions of time, talent and ongoing leadership in IPC and the electronics industry, long-time IPC volunteer, Robert Cooke, NASA Johnson Space Center, was presented with the IPC President’s Award at IPC APEX EXPO 2018.

Cooke joined his first Task Group meeting in February 2003, subsequently became a member of several task groups through the early 2000s, and in 2010 he increased his focus by nearly double. He continued to take on more projects, and in 2016, he accepted the invitation to become the General Chair of the 7-30 Product Assurance Committee where he has worked with the leaders of the task groups and subcommittees under that umbrella to make meetings more productive.

He has often come to the aid of IPC technical staff and taken a concept from a task group and turned it into an info graphic for discussion. These helpful gestures have led to new, more accurate graphics in some of IPC’s standards. He often provides clear and well-formatted working drafts from his meetings, and every note, comment and graphic is completely traceable to its source.

In 2016, Bob provided his committee members and IPC staff with a “wow” moment when he was asked what projects may fill industry gaps, and he provided a long list of possible projects that could answer industry needs. IPC continues to consider each idea carefully to see when and where programs and standards can be launched with industry support.

In addition to chairing the 7-30 committee, Cooke also chairs the 7-31M Fiber Optic Cable Acceptability Task Group, the 7-31H IPC-HDBK-620 Handbook Task Group and the 7-31K Wire Harness Design Task Group, with service on a total of 38 committees. He has led standards efforts that resulted in the release of three white papers and several standards including IPC-D-620, IPC-HDBK-620, IPC-D-640 and IPC-A-640.

“IPC and the entire electronics industry are fortunate to have Bob volunteer his time and expertise,” said John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “His work has enriched both the industry and IPC and we are thankful for Bob’s dedication and hard work.”