Three Long-time IPC Volunteers Receive Dieter Bergman IPC Fellowship Award
Three IPC volunteers who have fostered a collaborative spirit, made significant contributions to standards development, and have consistently demonstrated a commitment to global standardization efforts, were presented with a Dieter Bergman IPC Fellowship award at IPC APEX EXPO 2023. Curtis Grosskopf, Nick Koop, and Thomas Marktscheffel were chosen as award recipients because they embody the work ethic and spirit of the late Dieter Bergman, an industry pioneer and icon. As part of the award, they will bestow Dieter Bergman Memorial Scholarships on the university or college of their choice.
Curtis Grosskopf, IBM, has been active on standards development committees since 1989 when he served on the B-10a Plastic Chip Carrier Cracking committee. He has participated in several revisions of the standards associated with that committee, IPC/JEDEC-J-STD-020 and IPC/JEDEC-J-STD-033. Currently serving on several committees, Grosskopf leads the reviews of the process sensitivity standard, J-STD-075. He served as chair and vice-chair of the 2-15f Product Discontinuance committee and led the generation of J-STD-046 and J-STD-048 and is currently leading the addition of XML schemas to each standard to automate the transfer of notices. He chose the University of Wisconsin-Madison, College of Engineering, to receive the Dieter Bergman memorial scholarship.
Nick Koop, TTM Technologies, was instrumental in the creation of IPC-6013. By 2021, IPC-6013 had undergone five revisions reflecting industry needs. Koop was involved with additional specifications and expanded his contributions beyond flex circuits into rigid PCBs, raw materials, final finishes, and common terminology. In this fast-changing technical environment, he has been instrumental in keeping specifications current. Koop has chosen the University of Minnesota -- College of Science and Engineering to receive the memorial scholarship.
Thomas Marktscheffel, ASMPT GmbH & Co. KG, is the co-leader of the 2-17 Connected Factory Initiative Subcommittee and the 2-17A IPC-CFX Standard Task Group. He is directly responsible for several key updates to the growth of IPC-CFX and was instrumental in the development of both the IPC-CFX and HERMES standards. He has chosen the University of Karlsruhe/Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), for the memorial scholarship.
“The recipients of this year’s Dieter Bergman Fellowship award epitomize the spirit of fellowship in leading and working with volunteers from around the world, and we are fortunate that they have chosen to share their considerable talent and expertise,” said John W. Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “We are glad to be able to honor their volunteerism and assist future engineers with this award.”