Stephanie Rodgers has been at the forefront of textile and component product engineering and development for the automotive sector with General Motors, Magna International, Fisker Automotive and newly emerging electric vehicle companies for the majority of her career. She also was the first textile engineer at Microsoft Corporation as an XBOX and SURFACE materials engineers to design and develop with textiles. Receiving a Microsoft applied US Patent in integrated electronic textile and for developing a user attachment for handicapped XBOX players.
She has been putting her Bachelor of Science degree in Textile Engineering from Philadelphia University to work for 30 years. In addition to traveling the global textile community, she has lectured about textiles to design and engineering students of all disciplines. She currently works as the Director of Advanced Product Development for Apex Mills using yarn as a vehicle for innovation. Steph is an advisory panel and founding member of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA)Institute where she has co-patented a textile touch sensor. She is the 2020 recipient of the IPC- Rising Star Award and co-chairs the IPC D 70 Electronic Textile Standards and E-Textile program/events committees. Through her leadership, in 2019, the first industry consensus standard for e-textiles materials, applications and requirements was released; IPC-8921 Requirements for Woven and Knitted Electronic Textiles (E-Textiles) Integrated With Conductive Fibers, Conductive Yarns and/or Wires.