Professor Michael Pecht, Director of the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) at the University of Maryland, will deliver a plenary talk at the International Conference on System Reliability and Safety (ICSRS) from November 23-25, 2026, in Rome, Italy. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of ICSRS, his presentation, titled "Predicting Electronics Reliability: What the Best Companies are Doing," will explore how top companies combine reliability science with machine learning and data analytics to predict and improve electronics reliability.

In his talk, Professor Pecht will address a growing concern in industry: new technologies are often rushed to market before their reliability is fully proven. He will explain how such decisions can result in costly recalls, increased maintenance demands, and dissatisfied customers. The session will walk attendees through key reliability prediction methods, including handbook-based approaches, highlighting which methods should be avoided, which can be strengthened, and how they can be used more effectively. Drawing on this extensive research base, Professor Pecht will show how reliability prediction methods are applied to estimate electronics lifetimes and assess risk before systems are deployed.

Professor Pecht is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, serving as a Chair Professor in Mechanical Engineering and a Professor in Applied Mathematics, Statistics, and Computation. He is a Professional Engineer and a Fellow of IEEE, the PHM Society (Life Fellow), ASME, ASM, SAE, and IMAPS. He has authored more than 30 books and 1,000 articles on reliability and related topics.

Over his career, Professor Pecht has received numerous recognitions, including the IEEE Reliability Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the IEEE Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Award, for his pioneering work in physics-of-failure and prognostics-based approaches to electronics reliability. He has also contributed his expertise to three U.S. National Academy of Science studies, two U.S. Congressional investigations into automotive safety, and has served as an expert to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

For more information about CALCE’s research programs and activities, contact Prof. Michael Pecht.