CALCE EPS Consortium

"Excellence in Electronic Products and Systems for over 15 Years"

The Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) Electronic Products and Systems Consortium brings together the world's leading avionics, automotive, computer, semiconductor, and electronics manufacturers in a successful international industry-government-academic partnership. The Consortium provides information and services that match industry needs and provides an organizational structure by which different sectors of the electronics industry supply chain can share information and influence practices and policies.

 

CALCE Consortium Mission

    CALCE Consortium mission is to provide a knowledge and resource base to support the development of competitive electronic products and systems in a timely manner. The knowledge and resource base includes:
    • design and manufacturing methods,
    • simulation techniques,
    • models,
    • experimental methods,
    • guidelines,
    • instructional information, and 
    • future engineers and technical leaders.

CALCE Consortium Projects

    CALCE performs core research projects on an annual basis. These research projects are developed in collaboration with Consortium members. Core Projects are designed to be consistent with the Thrust Areas listed below which is developed by the Center to address the needs of the Consortium members and the Consortium as a whole.  Core research proposals are presented at the Planning Meeting and become part of the next year's research agenda at the Fall Reviews Meeting. (For more information about the Consortium Thrust Areas, see
    ). 

    The Consortium Thrust Areas:


Membership in the Consortium carries the right to direct a Consortium core research project at an effort level of $65,000 (1 unit). The results of core projects are shared with all the members (including additional sites and associate members) of the Consortium. 

    Any organization can initiate a non-core research project with the CALCE EPSC. Separately funded, these projects are usually more specific to the company's immediate interests, and may involve proprietary information which is not shared with the other members of the consortium. 

    CALCE members have access to all software, web-based resources, final reports and experimental data which result from the core projects. All information is available through the Consortium Roadmaps and is located under the Members Only Area of the CALCE website. 

    CALCE current year projects

 

How CALCE Consortium Operates?

The CALCE Consortium pursues its mission by:
  • Conducting cross disciplinary research to enable efficient and cost effective development of competitive products and systems.
  • Developing infrastructure to support industry
    • Guidelines
    • Software
    • Tutorials and case studies
  • Meeting with "leaders" to identify key bottlenecks, challenges and roadmaps needed to gain and sustain a competitive edge in the development of electronic products and systems.
  • Forming "special interest groups" to layout required R & D.
  • Training next generation of professionals in analysis, synthesis and leadership skills.
    • Short courses and workshops
    • Undergraduate and graduate courses
  • Obtaining feedback for continuous improvement.

 

CALCE Organization

    The CALCE Center is an entity in the University of Maryland, which includes various sponsored programs, groups and alliances. The Center is comprised of renowned research and teaching faculty, research scientists and research engineers with the inter-disciplinary backgrounds. These are in turn supported by a team of technical staff, and Ph.D. and M.S. candidates. An industry-university liaison and an administrative staff help assist in daily operations, public relations, communications, contractual issues, Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) meetings, workshops, conferences and publications. An organization chart can be found at http://www.calce.umd.edu/general/faculty. 

    The Center operates within the administrative structure of the Clark School of Engineering, where it enjoys the full support of the Dean of Engineering, who serves as the Clark School of Engineering representative to the Consortium. The director, Professor Michael Pecht has a BS in Acoustics, a MS in Electrical Engineering and a MS and PhD in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin. He is a Professional Engineer, an IEEE Fellow, an ASME Fellow and a Westinghouse Fellow, and has written sixteen books on electronics technologies and electronics products development. He served as chief editor of the IEEE Transactions on Reliability for eight years, on the advisory board of IEEE Spectrum and as the chief editor for Microelectronics Reliability International. He serves on the board of advisors for various companies and consults, providing expertise in strategic planning and reliability assessment of electronics products and systems.

    Principal Investigators:


      Dr. Michael Azarian - Materials Science, Photonic Devices, Tribology, and Reliability
      Dr. Avram Bar-Cohen - Photo Optics and Thermal
      Dr. Donald Barker - Failure Assessment, Optoelectronics
      Dr. David Bigio - Polymers
      Dr. Abhijit Dasgupta - Flip Chip Interconnect Reliability, Accelerated Test
      Dr. Diganta Das - Parts Selection & Management
      Dr. Bongtae Han - Stress Measurement
      Dr. Patrick McCluskey - Power Electronics and Component Reliability
      Dr. Michael Ohadi - Thermal Management
      Dr. Michael Osterman - Director of Software Development
      Dr. Michael Pecht - Reliability Methods and Tools, Supply Chain Creation and Management
      Dr. Peter Sandborn - Technology Tradeoff, Life Cycle Cost, MEMs
      Sony Mathew - Reliability & Prognostics

 

How to become a CALCE Consortium member

 

Contacts:

    Consortium Director: 
    Dr. Michael Osterman 
    CALCE 
    1103 Engineering Lab Bldg.
    University of Maryland 
    College Park, MD 20742
    Phone: (301) 405-8023
    osterman@calce.umd.edu

    Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) Chairperson:
    Steve McKeown
    BAE Systems
    600 Main St.
    MD R52D
    Johnson City, NY 13760