Engineer Connects Education, Industry and IPC

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

As the IPC Education Foundation establishes student chapters, we have partnered with individuals in the electronics industry and academia. Sometimes we get lucky and find someone involved in both. Kris Moyer, lead engineer at Williams International, is an IPC veteran who chairs and participates in several IPC Standards Committees. Moyer is also a part-time professor focused on PCB design at Sacramento State.

A chance encounter between Moyer and IPC President and CEO John W. Mitchell led to a partnership in developing an online, instructor-led Introductory PCB Design course offered through IPC. The first class just ended. The next class starts on May 7 and is open for registration. The six-week online IPC PCB Design Fundamentals course utilizes interactive webinars, on-demand recorded class sessions, job-specific exercises, and team projects to facilitate mastery of the key concepts required by circuit board designers. IPCEF took the opportunity to ask Moyer about his experience teaching his first IPC class.

Moyer responded, “It’s very rewarding to give back to the next generation of board designers by teaching PCB design both at the university level through Sacramento State University as well as through the new IPC EDGE training portal. I have been able to successfully design and build PWBs and CCAs for some of the most extreme environments and a lot of that knowledge flows directly from IPC’s standards and certification activities.”

Moyer is also the faculty advisor of our first IPC Student Chapter at Sacramento State. He partnered with student Scott O’Hair, an IPC Emerging Engineer, to start the chapter with O’Hair as the first IPC student chapter president.

O’Hair added, “My experience as an IPC Emerging Engineer really expanded my knowledge of the electronics industry. I received a lot of insight from my mentors and attending IPC APEX EXPO gives you the chance to see some impressive technology in action. The networking events can open up career opportunities as well and I wanted to share those benefits with my fellow students.”

The Sacramento State IPC Student Chapter was the first of six chapters launched during IPC APEX EXPO 2019. Aaron Birney, IPC’s manager of education programs, describes IPC Student Chapters as “a way for students to engage IPC members and learn about real-world manufacturing processes, make connections within the industry, and lay the groundwork for internships.”

The IPC Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, focuses on strengthening and shaping the emerging workforce by providing educational opportunities, connecting the emerging workforce with industry opportunities, improving the perception of the industry, and offering scholarships to deserving students.