Bharat Thakkar

Bharat received his MS and PhD degrees both in mechanical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology at Chicago in 1967 and 1976, respectively. He has been engaged in the practice of electronic systems packaging, physical design, development, compliance, and reliability engineering over last thirty-five years of which last twenty-six years were spent with Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories). He has addressed the problems of system reliability, electronic packaging, shock and vibration, thermal management and physical design. Prior to joining Bell Labs, Bharat was engaged in research and development of materials forming. Dr. Thakkar published and presented over twenty technical papers and holds two U. S. patents. He also has received several awards for community service and affirmative action activities at Bell Labs. In fall of 1997, IIT conferred Alva C. Todd Professorship upon Dr. Thakkar. This honor is granted to a part-time faculty member who has a minimum of 15 years of peer-recognized experience in the field of engineering with significant responsibility for engineering projects, design and research. Dr. Thakkar was also appointed as a member of the Education Task Force of the Electrical and Electronic Packaging Division (EEPD) in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Currently, Dr. Thakkar is a Consultant and CEO of the PREM Group, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois, which offers workshops and seminars to domestic and international clients.