Kenneth Harris II, Eng.D. will deliver the opening keynote at Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo (EWPTE). Acknowledged by Forbes Magazine as one of the world’s youngest and most influential individuals in the field of science, he will present “Building the Future,” on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wis.

From starting with NASA at the age of 16 to successfully leading integration of a $10 billion space telescope, Dr. Harris will deliver a captivating 15-year story that explores the engineering complexity behind some of our most ambitious missions to date. He will share his experience as a wire harness engineer on the James Webb Space Telescope and a champion of early STEM exposure.

As a senior project engineer for The Aerospace Corporation, Dr. Harris has what many consider to be a dream job in the STEM field: he contributes to both DoD and NASA payload missions. In this role, Dr. Harris is responsible for developing procedures and implementing processes to defend on orbit satellites from physical and cyber threats — the attainment of which leads to the successful data collection and orbital life of the mission. The satellite asset protection procedures and analysis allow spacecrafts to be monitored for hackers and anomalous threats from the designated Operations Control Center.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming Dr. Harris to EWPTE 2023,” said Dave Bergman, Wiring Harness Manufacturer’s Association (WHMA) executive director. “We’re eager for him to share his journey to becoming an engineer at NASA and to find out what exciting projects follow his work on the well-known James Webb Space Telescope.”

Produced by WHMA and IPC, EWPTE provides training and education and connects buyers with local, national and international manufacturers and distributors, thus providing new business opportunities. EWPTE will also feature IPC SummerCom, IPC’s standards development committee meetings, to be held May 13-18. For more information on EWPTE, including full descriptions of educational content, pricing on a special technical conference session or the wire harness standards meetings package, or to register, visit www.electricalwireshow.com. To learn more about IPC SummerCom, visit www.ipc.org/event/ipc-summercom.