Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1190860
30 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2019 success. As the current president of the chap- ter, I commend our officers and volunteers for their tremendous efforts to bring such a large event to this region. The event included an awesome keynote ad- dress about IoT by Tom Snyder of RIoT Labs and Gaëlle Fages of Bayer Crop Science, along with breakfast (Figure 2). Afterward, the show floor opened with 78 vendors supporting PCB design, PCB software, PCB fabrication, PCB assembly, component and material suppliers, and much more. The first part of the event in- cluded eight technical sessions, followed by a large buffet lunch. The second part of the event included eight more technical sessions. All of the technical session details are located on the PCB Carolina website, and the actual presenta- tions will be posted soon. The third part of the event included an evening reception with more food and drinks (Figure 3). The RTP Chapter arranged two half-day sol- dering workshops through Circuit Technolo- gy Incorporated (CTI), which occurred during PCB Carolina. CTI's IPC Master Instructor An- gel Deluna taught hands-on soldering work- shops in accordance with IPC J-STD-001, IPC- 610, and IPC-7711. And in conjunction with PCB Carolina, IPC offered a Tech Ed Course the day before the event on design for excellence by Dale Lee of Plexus Corporation. Further, EP- TAC held IPC Designer Certification Programs for CID and CID+. CID certification was taught by CID Instructor Kelly Dack, and CID+ cer- tification was taught by CID+ (Advanced) In- structor Dave Seymour (Figure 4). The RTP IPC Designers Council offers this event to bring designers and engineers togeth- er to keep the local community connected and offer opportunities for continued education. We aspire to attract younger talent to this in- dustry by engaging local universities and com- munity colleges because they are our future. This year, we worked with IPC to bring 50 lo- cal high school students from five schools who are involved in the STEM program to PCB Car- olina. STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disci- plines (science, technology, engineering, and math). The students were in a structured envi- ronment called the Owl Project. During lunch, a panel of industry engineers talked with the students, and then the students were chaper- oned through the 78 vendors at PCB Carolina. This year's event was up in registration from last year's event by 14.6% (does not include STEM students). I hope to see new faces at PCB Carolina 2020 on November 11, so start making your plans now to attend. For 2020, the chapter will hold elections at our January chapter meeting. I have been the RTP Chapter president for the last 10 years and Figure 2: Keynote. Figure 3: Evening reception. Figure 4: Classroom.