Minneapolis, MN—The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) announced that it is accepting nominations for the 2009 SMTA Awards. The awards honor members who have shown exceptional service to the association and the industry.

There are many members who have given their time, energy, and expertise to ensure the success of both the SMTA and the industry. The nomination deadline is Friday, June 26th, 2009. The awards are presented each year at SMTA International. Awards don’t honor only individual members; a company can also be nominated.

Nominations are eligible for the following awards:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The SMTA and MEPTEC are pleased to announce the collaboration of their 2009 Medical Electronics Symposia which will be held on September 23-24 at the Old Main building on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. ASU’s College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation will co-sponsor this event.

The SMTA Medical Electronics Symposium was previously held in Anaheim, CA (2008) and Minneapolis, MN (2004-2007) and is in its 6th year of operation. MEPTEC’s symposium is in its 4th year of operation and has been held at Arizona State University in Phoenix, AZ.

SMTA and MEPTEC will combine their symposia into one event for 2009. Each organization will organize complementary one-day tracks of technical presentations to be held on opposite days. Attendees will have the option to attend both days of the program or purchase a one-day pass to attend the individual sessions that specifically interest them.

The Medical Electronics Symposia will cover development, reliability, and quality of medical electronics, materials processing and medical electronics assembly, battery technology, environmental and worldwide regulations and much more.

SMTA and MEPTEC will each issue a Call for Abstracts in April. For information on participating in this event, contact Melissa Serres Marx at 952-920-7682 or melissa@smta.org.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The SMTA announced today that the highly respected SMTA International Conference and Exhibition will be held in San Diego, CA on October 4-8, 2009. The SMTA Board of Directors felt that to meet the needs of all members it was important to periodically have a presence on the West Coast. The plan for the immediate future will be to alternate SMTAI between the East and West Coasts. SMTAI 2008 will be held in Orlando, FL on August 17 -21. Planning is also underway for SMTAI 2010 to return to Orlando.

The 2009 SMTAI Conference and Exhibition will be held under one roof at The Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego, CA. SMTAI will continue to offer the same strong conference and exhibit floor – featuring equipment as well as materials and services – focused exclusively on the electronics assembly industry.

JoAnn Stromberg, SMTA Administrator, said that the move to San Diego in 2009 is going to be a win-win situation for those who have attended SMTAI in the past and those who have not. “We hope that the people who have grown accustomed to attending the conference in both Orlando and Chicago will join us in San Diego for this focused conference and exhibition,” Stromberg said. “In addition, we hope that there will be new attendees who have not attended due to travel time or budget constraints. San Diego will offer us the opportunity to expand our attendee base, and attract some new people to both the conference and the exhibition.”

For more information about this year’s SMTA International, please visit the website at www.smta.org/smtai/ or contact JoAnn Stromberg, 952-920-7682 or joann@smta.org.

The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) announced its recent partnership with MentorNet to help facilitate a growing demand for mentorship opportunities for its student members. The partnership allows members of the SMTA privileges to resources offered by MentorNet such as its one-on-one program, easy matching to SMTA members, and the résumé database for students.