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10 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2025 F E AT U R E C O LU M N I ST I N T RO D U CT I O N Don Ball: It's Never Felt Like 'Work' F or the November issue of PCB007 Magazine, I was sent a list of questions that would highlight my personality and career. If you've read my pre- vious columns, you know I am not reluctant to talk about myself, so here it goes. The Early Years I was born in November 1947 in Syracuse, New York (a genuine baby boomer) and grew up in the Syracuse suburb of Baldwinsville, New York. My childhood was pretty good, and in high school, I made one of the best decisions of my life. In my freshman year, inspired by the 1960 Olym- pics in Rome, I decided to try out for the track team. Of course, I wanted to attain glory as a sprinter, but this turned out to be a less-than-optimal pursuit, and I gradually moved up in distance to become a miler. To everyone's surprise, I was good at distance running and became one of the first in my class to earn a varsity letter, much to the disgust of some of my more athletic classmates in the higher-profile sports. This was important to me since it did wonders for my self-esteem and kept me from being a complete 1960s high school nerd (i.e., the main male char- acters in "The Big Bang Theory"). Of course, I still resent that even the third-string quarterback on a football team that couldn't win a game in the entire four years I was in high school had more social standing than me—a member of the only team bringing in championship trophies—but generally, high school was a pretty good time. College and Career My college career was a bit more challenging (it took me six years to complete my four-year degree). To make a long (and not very interesting) story short, I ended up graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from what is now Trine University in Angola, Indiana, which leads into how I got into this industry in the first place. When I graduated in December 1971, the economy was in a slump, and there was little call for freshly graduated chemical engineers. I took a contract job with Allied Chemical on a paper-making research project and submitted my name to several employ- ment agencies. In late 1973, I received two job inter- view offers: one with Sohio (Standard Oil of Ohio) and another with a small company called Chem- cut in central Pennsylvania, which manufactured wet processing equipment for the electronics and metal finishing industries. Both interviews led to job C o l u m n i st : Don Ball C o l u m n : The Chemical Connection Ti m e w i t h I - C o n n e ct 0 07: 3 years Columnist Bio: D o n B a l l h a s b e e n a p ro c e s s e n g i - n e e r fo r C h e m c u t s i n c e 1 974 . H i s d u t i e s h a ve i n c l u d - e d t h e te st i n g a n d d eve l o p m e n t of n ew p ro c e s s i n g e q u i p m e n t , a s we l l a s p rov i d i n g o n - s i te te c h n i c a l a s - s i sta n c e fo r t h e sta r t u p of n ew e q u i p m e n t a n d h e l p - i n g s o l ve p ro c e s s p ro b l e m s w i t h ex i st i n g e q u i p m e n t fo r c u sto m e rs a l l ove r t h e wo r l d . H e f i n d s i t a m a z- i n g t h a t t h e re a re a l wa ys n ew a n d u n i q u e p ro b l e m s c ro p p i n g u p d e s p i te a l m o st 5 0 ye a rs of ex p e r i e n c e. S e l e ct c o l u m n s f ro m T h e C h e m i c a l C o n n e ct i o n : • Through-glass Vias in Glass Substrates • Reducing Defects in Circuit Board Production • Common Misconceptions in Wet Processing