Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1449048
88 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2022 Matties: Why did you join the IPC? What was the appeal here? Why is the IPC so important to the design community? Moyer: I'll start with the first question. I've been an evening instructor at Sacramento State University, and I recognized the need several years ago to train the next generation of board designers. We weren't seeing a lot of that. We saw folks who were experienced and starting to retire out, but there weren't a lot of people wanting to go into that career. So, I cre- ated a course for my university to teach some board design. I was speaking with IPC about that, and they were very interested. ey worked with me, we came to an agreement, and I developed the courses for IPC to teach at the professional level. I've been doing that for several years now, and they decided to bring me on full time to develop additional courses. Matties: One of the things that we're hearing out there in the world is that additive manu- facturing is creating a challenge for designers. How are we going to overcome that? Moyer: Part of it will be with courses like mine that teach how to design with the additive manufacturing processes, while others are just added as that technology gains acceptance and use out in the industry. It will just become her- itage knowledge through fabricators, through assembly houses, and so on. It will then be able to convey that information back and forth more efficiently to fabricators just like we do now with traditional boards. Matties: Are the designers coming to you and saying they want to learn this, or are you going to the designer and saying that you offer this kind of training? Moyer: Both. e courses I've developed were partly based on feedback. I started with a two- part fundamentals course on the basics of design. e feedback from that, along with my own experience in the industry, said, "ese are the areas where we need to add focus on advanced topics." Matties: What is the hottest topic that the designers are asking for more education on right now? Moyer: Right now, military aerospace is extremely high in demand, and flexible and rigid-flex printed circuit design is highly in demand. And then there's one that I call advanced packaging, which is not quite the semi-additive yet, but it's the one dealing with microvias and sequential lamination. We're getting to the finer pitch without quite getting to the additive process yet. Nolan Johnson: So, that's the technology. Now my question is a slightly different spin on that. Everybody has a compelling event that causes them to make the decision to change, to learn, to grow in some way. Are you seeing some trends in those moments for your students as to why they're coming in? Moyer: e commercialization of space is get- ting a lot more demand for the aerospace mar- ket. e reduction in package sizing, the higher density packaging, is one of the main drivers, both for the rigid-flex and for the advanced packaging course, as parts are getting smaller and smaller into smart watches and the like. How do you get all the parts into something that small? You can't do that with traditional packaging. You have to go to advanced pack- aging methods, also getting rid of intercon- nects—getting rid of your wiring intercon- nects and going with your rigid-flex packaging are really the things I'm seeing drive those. Johnson: What about going to a more personal level? Sometimes we have career issues or chal- lenges at that level, not just the technology, but our own personal growth. Are you hearing trends from your students in that regard?