Penn State Harrisburg to host 15th signal integrity symposium

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — The Center for Signal Integrity at Penn State Harrisburg will host the 15th Central Pennsylvania Symposium on Signal Integrity from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 29, in the Capital Union Building on campus. Signal integrity involves the quality of electrical signals passing through connectors used in electronic devices like computers or cellphones.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Susquehanna Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Center for Signal Integrity at Penn State Harrisburg.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn from and exchange ideas with international experts about the latest developments in signal integrity, as well as other professionals and local business leaders.

The connector industry is vital to central Pennsylvania's economy and several talks and workshops are planned at the event, which are tailored to engineers working in that industry, as well as faculty and students. The following speakers are scheduled to present at the symposium:

  • Eric Bogatin, professor of electrical engineering, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Guoan Wang, associate professor, University of South Carolina
  • Richard Mellitz, distinguished engineer, Samtec
  • Mohiuddin Mazumder, senior principal engineer, Intel Corp.

Workshops will be presented by Keysight, Rohde & Schwarz, and several others.

The Center for Signal Integrity is housed within the college’s School of Science, Engineering, and Technology and is the only academic unit in the region that is dedicated to partnering with central Pennsylvania’s numerous connector companies in product development through faculty and student research and collaboration.

The center is partially funded by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Pennsylvania, Penn State Harrisburg, ANSYS, Amphenol, The Siemon Company, Samtec, TE Connectivity, Innovation Transfer Network, and Keysight Technologies.

Known as the “connector capital of the world,” the Harrisburg metropolitan area is home to more than 25 electrical connector companies. Sedig Agili and Aldo Morales, co-directors of the center and electrical engineering faculty members at Penn State Harrisburg, estimate that the region holds 80% to 90% of the U.S. connector market and about half of the market worldwide.

The cost for the symposium is $100 for the general public, $80 for member companies and $5 for students. The fee includes lunch. Click here for registration or information, or contact Aldo Morales at [email protected], Sedig Agili at [email protected], Kelly Batche at [email protected], or Shelly Sneeringer at [email protected].