2023 iNEMI Dedicated Service Awards

Award Criteria

This award honors individuals for unusual dedicated voluntary service to iNEMI marked by outstanding performance, demonstrated effective leadership, and committed service. It is presented to selected individuals who have served iNEMI in many capacities.
 

Eligibility Requirements

• 3+ years of committed service
• Provided significant technical contributions to a roadmap development or project work
• Supported the growth of iNEMI membership
• Developed a leadership pipeline for future technical projects and/or Board of Directors members
• Must be employed by an iNEMI member organization in good standing 

2023 Winners

• Marie Cole, IBM (retired)
• Alan Rae, University at Buffalo
• Julie Silk, Keysight Technologies

 

Marie Cole 
IBM Distinguished Engineer, retired

Marie Cole is an internationally recognized expert in electronic packaging materials and she shared her expertise and leadership as an active iNEMI participant from 2003 until her retirement from IBM in 2021. She was a very active member of the iNEMI Board of Directors from 2015 to 2021, volunteering significant time to the various activities and committees to ensure robust business strategies and processes.

Marie not only supported development of the iNEMI Roadmap through her own contributions to five editions of the roadmap, but also by identifying and inviting other experts to participate. On project work, she encouraged, proposed, and supported many iNEMI projects, particularly in new emerging technical areas such as environmental electronics and sustainability, high frequency applications and the use of AI for more efficient manufacturing and supply chain management. She was actively involved in 11 projects and, through her work with other consortia, she was able to guide the project teams to avoid conflict or duplication and maintain open communication and cooperation.

Marie was an excellent champion and role model for engineers to become involved with iNEMI. She had the ability to identify and develop expertise within IBM, encouraging younger engineers to participate in iNEMI projects, giving them recognition for their iNEMI work within IBM and supporting them in promoting their work externally. Her efforts were invaluable in helping develop leaders and expertise not just for iNEMI projects and IBM, but for the industry. 

 

Alan Rae
Director, NYS Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics
University at Buffalo

Alan has been active in iNEMI for approximately 20 years, leading and participating in projects as well as contributing to several editions of the iNEMI Roadmap. He has shown consistent and strong leadership on the iNEMI Technical Committee, reviewing and mentoring project development and execution. He was also co-leader of the Research Committee for many years and helped publish the Research Priorities document for the academic and funding communities, highlighting the priority areas of research in electronics manufacturing. 

Alan has been a great champion and ambassador for INEMI’s roadmap and technical activities. He has been actively involved with several collaborative projects both as a project participant and in his oversight role on the Technical Committee. Similarly, he has conducted chapter reviews and identified potential contributors for the roadmap. He identified new technology areas to be included in the roadmap, such as optoelectronics, and helped lead and establish the contributor teams. He also pushed development of optoelectronics-related projects to bring diversity to the project portfolio and attract new members to iNEMI.

 

Julie Silk
Material Reliability and Environmental 
Compliance Technical Program Manager
Keysight Technologies

Julie Silk dedicates her personal technical expertise and leadership to a collaborative approach for technology development. She truly believes in the power of collaboration and demonstrates that through her leadership within iNEMI and numerous other industry collaborative engagements. Julie has been a member of the iNEMI Technical Committee since 2011 and Chair since 2021. She has directly participated in several iNEMI projects, contributed to numerous roadmap chapters, and been involved with iNEMI’s Technology Integration Groups (TIGs) to develop the iNEMI Technical Plan, which defines collaborative projects to address gaps identified by the roadmap. She has contributed directly to 10+ industry conference papers and presentations sharing iNEMI project outcomes with the industry, several of which were recognized as Best in Proceedings.

Julie has been involved in transiting the electronics industry to lead-free solder since the introduction of the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation.  Recognizing that individual companies could not tackle this issue alone but would require supply chain support and industry expertise for success, she contributed to the definition and launch of more than five iNEMI projects on lead-free solder. These projects produced valuable results for iNEMI member companies on materials offerings, assembly processes and end products.

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe in 2020, Julie proposed an iNEMI project to produce guidelines on disinfecting electronics assemblies. Early on, health and safety recommendations were extreme in terms of chemicals and application methods with no thought to the impact on electronics and sub-systems in manufacturing. Julie’s objective was to publish an electronics industry guideline quickly, covering unacceptable and acceptable practices. The project launched under her leadership in May 2020 and in July, iNEMI published “Recommended Best Practices for Protecting the Reliability and Integrity of Electronic Products and Assemblies when Disinfecting for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).” The paper was widely referenced for best practices.