Electronic Packaging Educational Opportunities Expand
The Packaging Research Center (PRC) at Georgia Institute of Technology is in the process of developing two masters certificate programs: MS Certificate and Practice-Oriented Masters (POM) in electronic packaging. Students completing either of the program successfully will receive a certificate. This certificate will designate the technical focus, and the degrees will be granted by the participating engineering departments such as Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering. These two certificate programs will be implemented in the Fall of 1999 upon approval of the engineering departments.
Practice-Oriented Masters Certificate
This program has been developed as a response to an industry need for a strong professional masters program for those who plan to go into industry rather than seek a Ph.D. degree. It is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Engineering Centers Office, through Georgia Tech’s Engineering Research Center in Electronic Packaging. Students completing this program will earn an M.S. degree in engineering from a top-10 school, while minoring in management and interning with a potential future employer. The PRC provides the technical focus for the packaging certificate, and the PRC member companies provide the internship sites. The duration of the program is 15 to 18 months and to complete it, students take three major components (see Table 1).

Table 1. Requirements for the Practice-Oriented Masters.
Engineering Component 18 hrs. (12 hrs should be in electronic packaging area)
Management Component 6 hrs
Internship Component 3 – 6 months*
* 3 months for a domestic and 6 months for an international internship.

The engineering component focus on systems-level understanding and hands-on laboratory experience coupled with fundamental scientific knowledge in order to address manufacturing and short-term development issues in the electronic industry. The management component focus on business basics that a practicing engineer should know, such as accounting and finance, organizations and strategy, marketing and operations. These basics will be organized as short modules within a two-semester sequence. The internship component provide future engineers early in their careers with professional experience.

MS Certificate:
This program is geared towards students who want to excel in electronic packaging without taking the management and the internship components of the POM program. Engineering students who complete the 12 semester hours in electronic packaging area will receive the Certificate in Electronic Packaging. Table 2 displays the electronic packaging courses the students should enroll in to complete the program.

Table 2: Requirements for the MS Certificate in Packaging.
Unrestricted Engineering Courses 18 hrs
1 System Level Course "Electronic Packaging Systems" OR "Integrated and Low-cost Packaging" 3 hrs
1 Hands-on Lab Course "DBO* Substrate Fabrication" OR "DBO* Module Assembly" 3 hrs
2 Restricted Elective Courses From the Menu of Packaging Courses: Materials, Semiconductor Processing, Electronics, Optoelectronics, Microwaves, and Testing 6 hrs
*DBO = Design, Build, and Operate
For further information, contact:
Dr. Leyla Conrad, PRC Associate Director of Education
leyla.conrad@ee.gatech.edu