Member Spotlight: Dan Amey

With this newsletter issue we introduce “Member Spotlight,” a new feature that highlights the accomplishments of selected members of the IEEE Eastern North Carolina Section.

This inaugural edition focuses on Dan Amey, who was elected to the 2008 class of IEEE Fellows as a member of the Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology Society with the citation “for contributions to electronic packaging and high frequency characterization of ceramic system package materials.” Dan received the B.S.E.E. in 1963 and the Master of Engineering in Engineering Science in 1972 from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.B.A. from Lehigh University in 1977. He holds eight US patents and has eleven patents pending in the fields of Electronic Packaging and Display technologies.

Dan retired as a Research Fellow from E.I. DuPont Electronic & Communications Technology in December 2007 with over 44 years of experience in the electronics industry. He spent nearly twenty years at DuPont performing electronic packaging technology development, high frequency materials characterization and applications engineering. Prior to joining DuPont in 1988 he was Director of Engineering for Elco Corporation, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, with responsibilities for the design and development of connector and packaging hardware. From 1981 to 1986 he was Director of Electronics Technology for Thomas & Betts Corporation, Raritan, New Jersey, where he was responsible for research and development of packaging and interconnection products. From 1967 to 1981 he was with Sperry Univac, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. He performed system design and as Engineering Manager of Packaging Techniques from 1972 to 1981 he was responsible for interconnection hardware development for small and medium computer systems which included the design and development of LSI packages, hybrid circuits, special connectors, printed wiring board processes and techniques and interconnection hardware applications. From 1963 to 1967 he worked on military electronic hardware design at the Electronics Division of General Dynamics, Rochester New York which included the design of analog and digital support equipment for the F-111 program.

Dan is the author or co-author of over seventy technical papers and articles published in Conference Proceedings (ISHM/IMAPS, ECSG, IEMT, IPC), IEEE Transactions, Electronics, EDN, Advanced Packaging, Electronic Packaging and Production, Solid State Technology, Microwaves & RF and Microwave Journal. He is the author of the “Surface Mounted Components” chapter in the ISHM (now IMAPS) Book “Surface Mount Technology” published in 1984 and author of the chapters on “Electronic Packaging and IC Packaging Processes” and “Semiconductor Package Types and Package Selection” in the McGraw Hill “VLSI Handbook” published in 1989. He authored the “Integrated Circuit Packaging” chapter in the Wiley-VCH “Handbook of Semiconductor Technology-Volume 2” published in 2000. He was primary author of two chapters “Overview of Ceramic Interconnect Technology” and “Electrical Design, Simulation and Testing” in the “Ceramic Interconnect Technology Handbook” published by the CRC Press in 2007. He developed and taught courses in “Electronic Packaging” and “Printed Wiring Technology” for McGraw Hill and the Center for Professional Advancement.

From 1976 to 1979 Dan served as Chairman of a JEDEC task group to standardize chip carriers and packages for LSI devices. He is the recipient of awards from the International Electronic Packaging Society (IEPS) “For outstanding contributions to the field of electronics packaging”, a Special Award from the IEEE Computer Society “For the initiation of packaging standards and leadership in gaining industry-wide approval of JEDEC chip carriers”, and the Distinguished Engineering Contribution Award from the Electronics Industry Association (EIA) in 1984. He received the IEPS Founders Award in 1988. In 2004 he received the International Microelectronic Packaging Society (IMAPS) John A. Wagnon Technical Achievement Award for his “significant and continuing technical contributions to IMAPS over the course of many years in the area of electronics and communications technology and his accomplishments in the research and development of electronic packaging”.

It is members like Dan Amey that set the level of excellence and drive the technical vitality of the Eastern North Carolina Section. We will feature a different ENCS member in each quarterly newsletter; if you know of someone whose achievements merit recognition, please forward their name and contact information to your ENCS Chair Dev Palmer via email to dev.palmer@ieee.org