Real Time with… SMTAI 2020: SMTA Announces Members of Distinction Annual Awards

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SMTA has recognized exceptional individual and corporate members for their immeasurable contributions to the association since 1994. The following is a recap of award recipients. And while the SMTA International Technical Committee announced the best presentation and paper awards from the 2019 conference on March 18, 2020, recipients were also recognized at SMTAI 2020, including “best of proceedings” papers, the “Rich Freiberger best of conference” presentation, and the best student presentation. Read more here.

Founder’s Award

This award recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions to the industry, as well as support and service to the SMTA.

This year, the organization selected Reza Ghaffarian, Ph.D., Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to receive this prestigious award. SMTA and the electronics industry have benefited immensely from Dr. Ghaffarian’s research and advocacy in the area of reliability over the years. As an SMTA member since 1998, Reza has spoken at every SMTAI and has 21 papers in the SMTA knowledgebase.

Member of Technical Distinction Award

This award recognizes individuals who have made significant and continuing technical contributions to the SMTA. 

This year the Awards Committee selected Lenora Clark, ESI Automotive, as the recipient. Lenora has presented numerous technical papers at SMTA conferences, is a member of the SMTA International technical committee, and, most recently, is co-chair of the Additive Electronics TechXchange.

Excellence in Leadership Award

This award honors SMTA members who stand out as strong leaders in the Association. The 2020 recipient of this award is Jasbir Bath, Bath Consultancy. Jasbir has been dedicated to the success of the SMTA for over 20 years. He has demonstrated his leadership experience in various roles in the Silicon Valley Chapter Leadership Team. Jasbir brings an acute attention to detail, inclusivity, and passion for his chapter and to technical knowledge sharing. The SMTA thanks Jasbir for his many valuable years of service.

Excellence in International Leadership Award

This award recognizes members who have provided outstanding support and leadership to the SMTA's international members, chapters, or educational programs. 

The recipient selected for this award is Kong Hui Lee, Ph.D., CSMTPE, Cisco Systems (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. KH has been instrumental in bringing technical presentations to the SMTA Penang Chapter, as well as working with headquarters to bring that information to a global audience.

SMTA Corporate Partnership Award

As a global member, L3HARRIS has shown support at every level of the association, from supporting chapter and board leadership positions to technical contributions for conferences, committees, and, most importantly, their willingness to share technical knowledge with others in the industry. They embody the SMTA mission by encouraging employees to become members, attend meetings, and share their knowledge. L3HARRIS is most deserving of this honor.

Charles Hutchins Educational Grant

Chidinma Imediegwu is pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research examines bonding various power electronic substrates, including aluminum nitride (AlN) and direct bonded copper (DBC) to aluminum silicon carbide (AlSiC) heat sinks through transient liquid phase bonding using a copper-aluminum binary system. She is the current president of the Georgia Tech Student Chapter of SMTA, career peer advisor, former engineering council representative for NSBE, Golden Oaks Award winner, and two-time recipient of the UIU International Scholar Award. 

Joann Stromberg Student Leader Scholarship

Sabrina M. Rosa-Ortiz is currently a Ph.D. candidate from the electrical engineering department at the University of South Florida and recipient of several awards, such as the Alfred P. Sloan fellowship, NSF Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Intel SHPE Scholar, and the NASA-Florida Space Consortium Grant, among other awards. She is currently president of the SMTA USF Student Chapter for the University of South Florida and is also responsible for bringing back the SMTA USF Student Chapter to the university.