May 23, 2024 by Spencer Garison Mize
My participation at the SMTA Rocky Mountain Expo & Tech Forum in Denver taught me a lot about Industry, especially about supply, materials, newer technology, and how important this is within the Advanced Manufacturing Sector. I walked in, around eight o’clock in the morning, on a sunny Thursday, “and” I saw several different booths being set up by people all across the world. I was greeted by a friendly woman, who gave me my tassel, badge, and an overview of what was going to occur throughout the day.
I saw my cohort of “fellow CRCorps” Industry Ambassadors, performing various tasks, though each task was separate, different, or similar, there was a sense of cohesion and collaboration, working toward a similar goal. Some of my coworkers were creating scripts and contemplating who they wanted to interview, “and” what focus the content would be on, others were setting up film equipment, there were ring lights, phone tripods, gimbals, you name it. Others were organizing flyers, going over talking points they wanted to present to potential Industry Partners, “and” others were coordinating group pictures. My CRCorps supervisor, Leah, was setting up for a quick group meeting to highlight our goals and point us in the direction she believed was effective for the day. Alicia was going around talking to various Industry people, helping everyone out with tasks occurring then and there. Everyone was contributing in their own way, this sense of team camaraderie created an effective flow and added to the productive environment. I pulled out my DSLR camera and started taking photographs of everything occurring, finding my own way of adding to the productive flow.
After the countless activities happening everywhere, the first presentation was about to start, 6G Manufacturing: Challenges and Opportunities. I was new to what this was about, I remember reading a brief overview on the SMTA website a couple “of” days before I came. From what I recall, 6G is an exploration of our future, “and” the technologies being currently developed.
The presenter was a woman named Julie Silk, from Keysight Technologies. Julie Silk is currently the program manager for Keysight Technologies, she has an extensive resume, from working for Hewlett-Packard to Agilent Technologies, exhibiting her extensive credibility within the industry. Besides her role at Keysight Technologies, she is on the SMTA Board of Directors and is involved within other groups like HDP User Group and iNEMI. The presentation overview said Artificial 
Intelligence and Digital Twins will be explored as their relationship to new technologies on electronic manufacturing. Julie discussed the new materials and how their effectiveness is greater than some of the current materials being used for electronics. Julie was going over loads of new and unique information about the different kinds of material being tested and implemented for 6G. She went over metals, such as copper, explaining how based on their chemical composition, it causes roughness, which is not effective for certain electronic applications. Therefore new materials are being tested for effectiveness and will be used as 6G’s development continues into the future. The presentation was insightful and I learned a lot of new information and facts about 6G, increasing my understanding toward the subject.
The next presentation was called Exploring Alternate Solder Alloys and their Beneficial Attributes, by Thuy Nguyen. The bio focused on how she is a technical support engineer, helping customers with complex soldering issues. In 2015 she joined the Indium Corporation, with roles in Quality, R&D, and manufacturing. Her presentation abstract explains “that” the goals for soldering in her industry are to lower cost and energy consumption to create greater efficiency by lowering soldering temperatures and exploring alternative materials for flux. This is done through mixed alloy technology development. She went over everything within the abstract, also showing graphs and data of how through testing for strength and other elements of soldering flux they can compare results and create different types of flux that are more effective and efficient, than current flux technology. This information was intriguing, as I have used soldering flux myself for my projects, but did not know in-depth information about the specifics and alternative flux materials for soldering processes. It was engaging to get a different perspective on what is used within flux and how the use of differing materials yields different results that can potentially and are already more efficient.
The third and final presentation was unexpected, as it was performed by our own CRCorps Industry Ambassador, David. A man named Richard Osborne was supposed to present how AI is helping with X-ray inspections, but had to cancel at the last minute. David decided to step-up and fill the slot with a presentation about what CRCorps is all about. Everyone in our Cohort was eager to help, in creating a captivating presentation, Ambassadors were filming, others were taking photographs, “and” some were working with David on the content that was going to be included within the presentation.
It was time for him to present, I had my camera ready alongside my coworkers who had their phones out setting up to record. He started his presentation with lots of passion. David did an amazing job, he presented, spoke on his own experience as a Community College student, and in detail explained the mission of CRCorps. The audience seemed curious about our new program, and were given the chance to learn more about who we are and that we're here to get current and potential students more know-with-all around Advanced Manufacturing. I was excited that one of our members got to present and reach out to more people with experience and connections within “the” Industry. It was a positive experience, I was glad to be there with CRCorps Ambassadors to support our mission.
The SMTA event was a fulfilling experience, where I learned more about Advanced Manufacturing and got to support my fellow Ambassadors throughout the event. We all got to speak on our educational journeys as current college students and see more of the opportunities brought forth by the future of Advanced Manufacturing. This strong connection between Education and Industry is important, and I believe it will strengthen the Advanced Manufacturing field.