IMAPS Mid-Year
It’s hard to believe that half a year has passed since I started my term in office. So many things have happened that I thought it would be wise to let you know about them. We are successfully conducting business out of our new facility in Washington, D.C. A picture of the new “Home of IMAPS” is included with this article. I think you’ll agree that this permanent home is a major advantage for our operations.
IMAPS has now completed the Materials Conference in Braselton, Georgia, and the new ATW on “Ceramic Technologies for Microwave: Handsets, Bluetooth, Broadband and LMDS” in Denver, Colorado. Both events were successful, the latter being a sell out. This ATW has demonstrated that the resurgence of ceramic-based technologies in high frequency applications is of high importance to our membership. The HD International Conference in Santa Clara, California, and the Thermal Management Workshop in Palo Alto, California, were also successful.
The Flip Chip Conference and Exhibition in Austin, Texas, on June 18-20, is coming together and will have a strong technical program including PDCs, state of the art technical presentations and two days of table top exhibits. This event, which will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, exemplifies the growth in the industry with respect to flip chip technology. You can find out more about this very important event at the dedicated web site www.imapsflipchip.com
As of this writing booth sales to date for IMAPS 2001 are ahead of the pace set by the Boston Symposium. John Graves and his team are implementing several new concepts into this year’s event. The program is now together and offers a technical breadth of presentations that is hard to compare in the industry. There will also be 22 Professional Development Courses (PDCs) offered covering such topics as: Hands-on Wirebonding and Screen printing, Lead Free Solder, Physics of Failure, Microvia technology and 17 others. Check out the entire PDC program on the IMAPS web site at www.imaps.org/
Our new Director of Information Technology and E-Business, Brian Schieman, has really hit the ground running on many projects. He is eager to hear from you on these and new areas where you think IMAPS should get involved. Send him an email - bschieman@imaps.org or give him a call at 202-548-8715.
IMAPS 2001 On-line Tradeshow
Introduction of the IMAPS on-line tradeshow will further augment your experience attending the Baltimore Symposium. The on-line tradeshow will feature all IMAPS 2001 exhibitors, with complete descriptions of the products and services offered, links to the company, and the ability to schedule appointments with exhibitors. This enhancement will guarantee your ability to meet with your must-see vendors, and booth locations at the Baltimore Convention Center.
IMAPS On-line Industry Guide
The Industry Guide - missing in action since 1999 - is now up and running - and it certainly was worth the wait! The Guide now features over 600 companies (it is anticipated in the improved format that by 2002 it will feature over 1200) with complete products and service listings of IMAPS member and non-member companies. IMAPS member companies are highlighted. The search tool is extremely powerful allowing complete searches on all products, services, and complete address information. Companies can update their own products and services as needed - so the information is always latest available. Companies not currently included should contact IMAPS headquarters and then can complete the sign-up on-line. In addition, the regular features of the “old” Guide are included with a members-only access to contact information about IMAPS members. I don’t know about the rest of you, but the Industry Guide is like my personal Rolodex as it facilitates maintaining contact with important colleagues, but also helps me to identify companies that I need as either resources or potential customers. Please let me know thoughts on this significant member benefit.
On-line Abstracts -
Our return on investment is really starting to pay huge dividends in term of ease of use and productivity among our volunteers and staff. We have completely automated the process by placing submitted abstracts on-line, ratings by the Technical Committee, and Program Development. This process will also include the actual manuscript review, ratings for Best Papers of Session, and finally Best Papers of the Symposium. This process in the past was extremely time consuming for both volunteers and staff - not to mention environmentally unfriendly in the destruction of many forests!
It is my intention to keep you advised of the significant actions performed by our staff and also the volunteers who give extensively of their time to promote and implement society activities and programs. More on this in the next issue of Advancing Microelectronics.
Finally, I wanted to let you know that the success of ALL of the technical events this year has started IMAPS back on the road to financial recovery. As you’ve read in previous columns, the Executive Council has had to make several very difficult decisions regarding programs due to budget shortfalls encountered in the past. When the Baltimore Symposium is completed as successfully as I know it will be, it will be my pleasure to announce that the society is in a much stronger position as we move forward into the new millennium.
Thanks to all for your support. IMAPS is truly a team effort.
| Table of Contents | Previous Page | Next Page |
