A Tribute: Prof. Avram Bar-Cohen

Prof. Avram Bar-Cohen (popularly known as Avi), the past President of IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS), and the past Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies, passed away on October 10, 2020. He was a giant in the field of thermal management and made seminal research and professional contributions over a five-decade period. Prof. Bar-Cohen received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA, in 1968. Subsequently, he joined Raytheon Corporation, while continuing to pursue his Ph.D. degree at MIT, and receiving it in 1971. His Ph.D. work was titled “Boiling and Condensation in a Liquid- Filled Enclosure.” Shortly afterward, he moved to Ben-Gurion University, Be’er Sheva, Israel, as a faculty member, where he helped to establish the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He served there for nearly 15 years, with stints away during visiting positions at MIT, Naval Postgraduate School, Control Data Corporation, and University of Minnesota. In 1989, he joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota. There he served as the Director of the Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer Division, and held the James J. Renier Visiting Chair in Technological Leadership. In 2000, he was appointed as the Director of the Center for the Development of Technological Leadership, and the H. W. Sweatt Chair in Technological Leadership. In 2001, Prof. Bar-Cohen was appointed as the Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, MD, USA. After serving two terms as the Chair, he accepted the position of Program Manager at the Microsystems Technology Office, U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), on assignment from the UMD in 2010. Subsequently, in 2015, he joined Raytheon Corporation, while on leave from the UMD, and served there until his passing.