Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1454922
REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2022 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 39 my dad telling me the words "semiconductor," "Silicon Valley," and "start in the mailroom." I knew none of what any of those three things meant, but my vision of semiconductor was something to do with a choo-choo train and going into some lush green valley. So. I've learned a little bit along the way, but I think that the message is that if I can know so little from then to now, others can do it, too. ere's no doubt. e number of people who helped a lot along the way, who went to hand, who spent an inordinate amount of time openly telling me about lessons learned, best practices, words of encouragement, and advice are too many to list. One that really sticks in my mind is Dieter Bergman. He's a recipi- ent of this award and I feel I don't belong in the same conversation. Goldman: I understand. O' N e i l : B u t t h e v a s t amount of knowledge, the openness, the will- ingness to sit down and spend as much time as you've got talking a b o u t w h a t e v e r , whether f ishing or s o l d e r j o i n t s , t h a t level of commitment and openness is what makes the industry what it is today. I think the work going on in standards is the foundational core of the organization. I think it's more important today than ever. If you go back to when the industry started, the airplanes, the Class 3 hardware that was pro- duced 50 years ago is still working today in many cases. Now you've got autonomous vehicles, trans- portation as a service, medical devices, IoT. Everyone's using the "get to market tomor- row" type of mentality, the understanding of risk and the differentiation between Class 1, 2, and 3, the importance of having solid stan- dards that address today's technology, and the education so that industry understands that there are differences, and how to take the necessary precautions and best practices to make sure that we don't have to relearn diffi- cult lessons by applying commercial practices to mission-critical applications. Even if those mission-critical applications are now commer- cial air taxis and self-driving cars, and all those things, our lives depend on those. Goldman: It seems that a l l t h e s e c t o r s — I believe it was seven d i f f e r e n t i n d u s t r i e s or markets—have all b l e n d e d t o g e t h e r . Automotive and con- sumer and computer, it's all blending into just a couple of industries. They're all starting to have the same r e q u i r e - m e n t s , to o, which are tough. O'Neil: Yes. Goldman: Tell me more about the Education Foundation and your role in it. O'Neil: We got started about three or four years ago. We've rolled out student chap- ters at dozens, probably getting close to 100 colleges and universities. ose are our student-led chapters, and they're incred- ible. We did a few face-to-face events, but since then, it's been mostly virtual, and it's been good to really get to know some of the student leaders through the scholarship program where they submit video essays, if