Editorial

Abstract

This issue of the Journal of Electronic Packaging has eight papers selected from the first international conference on thermal issues in emerging technologies theory and applications (ThETA I) held in Cairo, Egypt, January 3–6, 2007. The objectives of the conference are to encourage dissemination of information and research in areas related to transport and emerging technologies in various domains, including microelectronics, nanotechnology, smart materials, micro-electro-mechanical systems, and biomedical engineering. The importance of transport in these areas is becoming a dominant factor in determining the performance of such technologies. The ThETA I conference was very successful and attracted many prominent researchers from the US, Europe, and the Far East to participate and interact with researchers from the Middle East, in general, and Egypt in particular. The eight papers presented in this special issue represent some of the best ideas presented at the conference, and deemed worthy of archival publication in the JEP after the papers were reviewed again by the JEP with Professor Mohamed-Nabil Sabry serving as the special guest editor for the issue. The ThETA I executive committee consisted of Bernard Courtois, TIMA Lab., Grenoble, France, Yogendra Joshi, Georgia Inst. Technology, USA, Waturu Nakayama, Tokyo Inst. Technology, Japan, Mohamed-Nabil Sabry, U. Française d' Egypte, Bahgat Sammakia, Binghamton U., USA, and Mamdouh Shoukri, McMaster U., Canada. The chairmen for the conference were Mohamed-Nabil Sabry and Bernard Courtois.