Bob Vermillion has developed advanced ESD paperboard materials with issuance of a U.S. Patent; one of Bob’s ESD innovations was NASA Mars Mission approved. Bob has extensive SME in the evaluation of spacecraft composites and Triboelectrification materials mitigation for a Lunar or Mars Surface. Most recently, Bob has developed an advanced and repeatable test method of mapping materials for Tribocharge Generation at low RH for a Lunar or Mars surface to predict performance.
In 2018, Bob's work on CubeSat (miniaturized satellites) enabled a successful deployment into space as he presented at the NASA Quality Leadership Forum 2018 at Cape Canaveral.
Bob was Awarded Honorary Life Member from the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IOPP) on 24 October 2022. In 2019, Mr. Vermillion was inducted into the DoD Military Packaging Hall of Fame. RMV received the National Institute of Packaging and Logistics Engineers Corporate Award in 2015 and the James A. Russell Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 for Innovations and Contributions without financial gain in Support of the War Fighter. In 2002, Bob was recipient of the IOPP AmeriStar Award for the Winning Design in the Electronics Category for the USA. This unique shipping container package design also provided suspect counterfeit protection for sensitive components and parts. In 2007, Bob was inducted into the IOPP College of Fellows. In 2008, Bob founded the ESD Task Force, IOPP Medical Device Packaging Committee. Widely published in the USA and abroad, Bob’s peer reviewed articles focus upon aerospace & defense, space technology, medical device, consumer electronics, semiconductor, disk drive and the semiconductor sectors.
During the 2002 ESDA Symposium, Bob was recognized for his contributions in the field of electrostatics as a co-author of many Works in Progress (WIP) documents and ANSI/ESD Industry Standards including Standards Working Groups, workshops and technical program committees. Moreover, Bob’s lab at NASA-Ames (RMV) is one of the few select 3rd party, round robin testing laboratories for verification of new and/or revised ANSI ESD Standard Test Methods. A former BOD member of the Silicon Valley EOS/ESD Society, former iNARTE® Board of Directors (BoD) now Exemplar Global, an ASQ company, Bob is also an Advisory Board Member of Controlled Environments magazine.
Located on site at NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, the RMV NASA-Ames lab provides qualification testing and engineering services for advanced and specialty materials (ICPs to CNTs), systems level testing plus protective packaging qualification for U.S.A. based companies. Recently, RMV was selected as the 3rd Party ESD Materials Qualification Laboratory for the Agency in which NASA suppliers were evaluated per ANSI/ESD S20.20-2014 compliance. Past performance for NASA includes technical writing, ESD consulting, Supplier Compliance Testing and One NASA ESD Program Manager Training in 2014, 2016 and 2018. In May 2017, RMV in collaboration with LaRC and AFRC, issued a NASA GIDEP Advisory (The “Cordless Wriststrap”) for the benefit of all government agencies for the prevention, detection and avoidance of suspect counterfeit materials in the supply chain in support of NASA and the Warfighter.
RMV provides Technology Training (iNARTE® Certified ESD Aerospace & Defense Engineer and Technician) Training, Electrostatics (ESD) Packaging Specialist Training, Advanced Packaging & Material Logistics, Advanced Polymer Materials for Space & Defense Suspect Counterfeit and Incoming Inspection Technology Training) for the DOE, DoD, prime contractors, suppliers and distribution that support the Federal and commercial supply chain.
Other core services include ESD laboratory testing, on-site ESD Testing, in-process equipment and robotics validation, troubleshooting (satellites to electric aircraft) plus facility (cleanroom, high bays) assessments for aerospace/defense, semiconductor, consumer electronics and medical device manufacturers.
Before commercialization of Inherently Conductive Polymers (ICPs), Bob regularly presented before Academia on Advanced Measurement Techniques, whose participants included Professor Alan Graham MacDiarmid, Nobel Prize 2000 Winner and the R&D community before commercialization of 3D Manufacturing, flexible electronics and engineered polymers for aircraft composites and satellite structures now in production and for future manufacturing requirements from ship to shore and into space.
As a true patriot and pioneer in the field of electrostatic material applications for NASA and the Warfighter, Bob was the very first to present before the NASA Quality Leadership Forum on “Non-Conforming and Suspect Counterfeit ESD Materials Used in the Shipment of Sensitive Electronic Parts,” a groundbreaking talk for Government and Industry that in turn has led to a series of articles for Interference Technology (USA, EU & UK). In collaboration with Thomas Reilly, MD, Bob presented “Considerations for the Control of Static Electricity in a Hospital Environment” for HealthPack (2010). Since that time, Bob has been invited to teach professional development courses for Academia and business including NASA, DoD, Picatinny Arsenal, Tobyhanna, Aberdeen Proving Ground, DOE Contractor run facilities, Auburn University, UC Berkeley Space Science Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, Loyola Marymount University, San Jose State, Clemson and Oxford University.
In 2016, Bob presented "CubeSats and Material Verification” upon recommendation of MSFC for the NASA Academy of Aerospace Quality (AAQ) Workshop in collaboration with Auburn University. That same year, Bob was a Guest Speaker for the Annual NASA GIDEP Conference (2016) held at NASA Ames Research Center. In February 2017, Bob was invited to present another white paper on CubeSat Materials Verification for the Annual NASA/JPL Joint Audit Planning Committee (JAPC) Conference, Aerojet/Rocketdyne. In October 2017, Bob presented on behalf of the PCB 2017 Conference, Santa Clara, and again that same month for the Annual GIDEP Conference, Tysons Corner, Virginia in which the number of questions was unprecedented in the high level of interest in material and packaging compliance for manufacturing, assembly, storage and transportation for the Warfighter. By special invitation from Sandia National Laboratory, Bob presented on Suspect Counterfeit & Non-Compliant Materials in the DOE Supply Chain for the prime contractors with a return invitation to speak in 2019 for the Annual DOE Conference.
In October 2018, Bob presented before the ESD Association to a packed audience of system level engineers, technicians and OEMS on the issues of material non-compliance for the protection of microelectronics.
In December 2018, Bob was a featured Workshop presenter for the DMSMS 2018 Annual Conference by special invitation from GIDEP. As a result of an overwhelming awareness generated from the two “hands on” and technology driven workshops that addressed current and future trends with material non-compliance and suspect counterfeits with PHS&T, Bob has been invited to join the DMSMS Counterfeit Committee for 2019 due to his unprecedented pioneering of the criticality for compliance packaging solutions for current and future Risk Management for protection of the Warfighter. In March 2019, Bob has been invited to present a Workshop on Risk Management and Supply Chain Quality Assurance for Material & Packaging Compliance on behalf of Collaboration on Quality in the Space & Defense Industries (CQSDI), a division of the American Society of Quality (ASQ), whose membership includes the DoD, DLA, NASA, DOE and the prime contracting community.
Bob Vermillion is an iNARTE® Certified ESD & Product Safety Engineer, Active Member and Co-Chair & Founder of the SAE G19A (Suspect Counterfeit Packaging Committee) for IEEE Parts. The former Vice-Chair of the ANSI ESD Aerospace Working Group under the Leadership of NASA Langley, Bob Vermillion was named the ESD Technical Authority for NASA’s Interagency Working Group (IAWG) in 2018 at the NASA Quality Leadership Forum, Cape Canaveral.