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year. We went from having about a 13-month cycle to about 11 months. We were challenged by Matt Kelly, IPC CTO and VP of technol- ogy solutions, to have the proceedings ready in time for the conference, so we've really been driving toward that milestone. Papers were finalized on January 8, with slide presentations done by February 17. All the tracks, sessions, and posters were finalized and back to IPC by the end of January. Are the posters mostly from students? Rak: Not particularly, but we did have a num- ber of students who contributed posters this year. Of the 21 that were received, 11 were from students, and we're very excited about that. We have four students who submitted to the full paper conference as well. What is the primary difference between papers and posters? Is it just in the presentation? Rak: Papers are typically six to 20 pages, and are expected to be a very technical description of work, complete with data analysis and citations. ey are peer-reviewed very closely by the TPC. Papers that make it through will be in the pro- ceedings, and are a permanent record that can be referred to by standards committees that need to use published work as a good foundation for introducing new requirements into standards. Posters are more like an "announcement of potential," where we have some exciting new results but we don't have a complete story yet. It's not a complete body of work that could influence a standard or the direction of the industry, but it's still worth passing along and potentially building on later. What are the categories of the technical topics? Rak: ey are divided into 14 categories: Addi- tively Manufactured Electronics and Plastron- ics; Assembly Processes and Testing; Design for High Speed, High Bandwidth and Reliabil- ity; Factory of the Future; High-Density Sub- strates; High-Frequency 5G and 6G Applica- tions; Novel ermal Interface Materials; PCB Fabrication and Materials; Power Electronics; Protective Coatings; Quality and Reliability; FEBRUARY 2025 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 49 Udo Welzel at IPC APEX EXPO 2024 judging a technical poster.