IPC Michael V. Carano Teacher Excellence Award Winners

Joel Tomlinson

Joel Tomlinson is a Lecturer/Laboratory Manager with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Technology at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Throughout his six years of teaching courses related circuit analysis, troubleshooting, industrial controls, and instrumentation and measurement, he has been involved in curriculum development of electronics and engineering technology courses. The majority of his curriculum development is focused around industry preparedness of students entering a highly technical and rapidly evolving electronics industry.

Additionally, to curriculum development, Mr. Joel Tomlinson infuses practical electronics training with real world experience learned in the electronics and manufacturing field with the goal of increasing industry preparation for students. Mr. Tomlinson was a certified IPC-WHMA-A-620 Specialist while employed as a manufacturing engineer for a wire-harness manufacturing company. Mr. Tomlinson has worked with his previous employment to develop an internship program where students can gain valuable industry experience while implementing the WHMA standards and other IPC standards received through student membership in the IPC Education Foundation student chapter on campus.

Personal Statement:

“Being awarded the Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award will be a great honor for me because it will reinforce my commitment to teaching and preparing the next generation of electrical/electronic technicians, technologist, and engineers. I appreciate the support and dedication of the IPC Education Foundation’s commitment to assisting educators and students in industry readiness in the field of electronics manufacturing.”

Andrea Blaylock

Andrea Blaylock is a full-time tenured professor at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois, where she has been the Faculty advisor for IPC Student Chapter for the past 2 years. During her nearly ten years of experience teaching in the Engineering Technology Department. Prior to Triton College, she spent nine years in the Industrial Power Systems and Electrical Distribution and Controls industries, working for General Electric and Bosch-Rexroth/Indramat Division, respectively, as an Area Account Manager, Outside and Inside Sales Engineer.

Andrea graduated from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, with a Master of Arts degree in Career and Technical Education. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Apparel Design from Dominican University. Recently Andrea has obtained her Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Substitute Teacher License and AWS GMAW D1.3 (MIG) Welding Certified Qualification.

Andrea believes that the best way to help students develop into industry professionals themselves is to instill in them the need to communicate honestly, be helpful with each other, and maintain integrity in their work. She does this by being this way herself, so teaching by example, not just words. She works with her colleagues at the college in the same manner.

When she is not working, you can find her spending time with her family, reading, and listening to music (jazz and inspirational). Her motto is “Life is not a destination but a journey” and she feels her journey has just begun.

Personal Statement:

“It is an honor and privilege to be recognized as a candidate for IPC Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award. As the IPC Student Faculty advisor, I consider myself privileged to have been nominated for such a distinguished honor by one of my students. The majority of my experience has been in industrial power systems, electrical distribution, and controls, as well as residential and commercial building applications with small to medium scale power distribution, generation, and use. I've largely focused on teaching electricity/electronics, robotics, and programmable logic controllers since joining Triton College, Engineering Technology as the lead Mechatronics program instructor. Success cannot be attained on one's own; it can only be attained with the assistance and support of peers. Without the help of several people, I would not be where I am now. It takes a village to achieve success. This award is a chance for me to express gratitude and appreciate all of those who have helped me get to where I am now. In addition, the IPC Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award funding will allow me to further my professional development so that I can better serve students by assisting them in achieving their goals in the field of electronics and automation. Thank you for recognizing me with the IPC Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award.”

#PCBeTheChange

International Design Competition 2021 Winners

The IPC Education Foundation, Upverter Education, a division of Altium, and Arduino partnered to create the first student design competition to engage, educate, and enhance students’ proficiencies in PCB design, with a focus on solving some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

College and University Category

$1,500: 1st Place Bushfire Watch Australia at Curtin University, Perth, Australia

"From the start, we at Bushfire Watch Aus strived to do our best and see where it would take us. While we were hopeful to get top 3, never in our wildest dreams did we expect to come first. To us, winning this competition demonstrates what happens when teamwork, a shared vision, and innovation collide. This project has been a perfect example of the impact a simple idea can have when pursued passionately."  - Bushfire Watch Aus from Curtin University, Australia

$750: 2nd Place - Swan River Clean Up Crew at Curtin University, Perth, Australia

“It has been a great experience to take part in the PCBeTheChange competition for myself and the team. Engaging with the local community on an environmental issue that is unique to our city has been extremely rewarding. We are looking forward to testing and developing our PCB towards making a diff erence. Thank you to Altium Upverter, the IPC education foundation and Arduino for providing us with this opportunity.” - Swan’s River Clean Up Crew from Curtin University, Australia

$500: 3rd Place - UPatras Robotics Club at University of Patras, Greece

"We are extremely honored to be receiving such an important award. We are earnestly grateful to Arduino, IPC Education Foundation and Upverter Education for giving us the opportunity to develop our project. Bright ideas can come from people who are trying to solve every day problems in their community. We sincerely hope that our concept for early fire detection, which was originally inspired by the forest fires that Greece has recently suff ered, will contribute to preventing further catastrophes." - UPatras Robotics Club at University of Patras, Greece

High School Category

$1,500: 1st Place - The Zebracorns at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

“Young innovators always begin challenges with a disadvantage: inexperience. During a global pandemic, there was the additional limitation of never meeting face to face. Yet, winning this challenge demonstrates our ability to overcome these obstacles and produce a device with the potential to keep our communities thriving in the long term. In this sense, our success shows how the spirit of innovation can thrive in even the most diff icult circumstances, and that even across distances, we can come together to enact positive change for the future.” - The Zebracorns from North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

$750: 2nd Place – Afghan Dreamers

“This competition was among 87 entries and fortunately, we got 2nd place! We were so excited because our situation was diff erent from other countries. In this journey, we tried our best and tried as hard as we could”. - Afghan Dreamers

$500: 3rd place – Parker Pioneers at Francis Parker High School

"When we, the Parker Pioneers, found out that we had placed 3rd in the high school section of the PCBeTheChange competition, we were thrilled. The natural world is changing more every day, both with innovations and environmental consequences. Having the opportunity to design a PCB to address one of those issues was an interesting project, and we learned a lot from it, in both areas of board design and environmental awareness. To see our board succeed is very exciting, and it is a great stepping stone towards helping to solve larger problems in our world." - Parker Pioneers at Francis Parker High School