Personal
Mr. Heirman attended Purdue University from 1958 to 1963, receiving his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering in 1962 and his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering in 1963. While at Purdue, he was an honors student and a member of many student organizations, including Omicron Delta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Phi Eta Sigma. He also registered for the Navy ROTC and was Commissioned Ensign in the US Navy upon graduation in 1962.
Mr. Heirman was also an amateur videographer. He used his father's 8 mm video camera to film some of the on-campus events at Purdue. His videos provide a great view of life on campus in the early 1960s.
Bell Laboratories
Mr. Heirman began his professional career at Bell Laboratories in 1963 and his career spanned over three decades until his retirement in 1997.
While with Bell Labs, Mr. Heirman worked on a wide variety of projects in the field of EMC compliance testing and interference suppression. These included AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) Cell site selection for experimental testing, Radio Frequency Absorber for Interference Suppression, First Open Area Test Site (OATS), Anechoic Chamber Measurements, review of testing results for Bell System products including Antelope System, 2A Applications Processor, and Antenna Calibrations. He was also instrumental in the development of Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) Cell testing. He was awarded the Bell Labs Distinguished Technical Staff Award in 1982 and was eventually promoted to technical manager.
Standards Work
Mr. Heirman has participated in national and international standardization activities in some capacity since 1974. He has been involved with organizations such as ANSI ASC C63, the IEEE, and the IEC’s International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR). He has contributed to the development of many EMC standards including technical input, leadership roles on committees, and lecturing on their use.
In November 2008 he was presented with the prestigious IEC Lord Kelvin award at the IEC General Meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is the highest award in the IEC and recognizes Mr. Heirman's many contributions to global electro-technical standardization in the field of EMC. His efforts have been recognized in the form of various other awards including the ANSI Finegan Award (2003), the IEEE Steinmetz Award (1997), and the IEEE EMC Society Richard R. Stoddard Award (1995).
Mr. Heirman has served as the chairman of CISPR and also the chairman of IEC’s Advisory Committee on EMC (ACEC) and was president of the IEEE Standards Association after serving as chair on many IEEE committees. He has also been a member of the Technical Management Committee of the US National Committee of the IEC.
Courses/Lectures
Starting in 1997, Mr. Heirman briefly worked as adjunct professor and senior research scientist at the University of Oklahoma. He is also past Associate Director of the University’s Center for the Study of Wireless EMC. In this role, he provided EMC consultation to graduate students, and the Center's founding organizations in their studies on EMC interaction between cellular phones and medical electronics.
Don Heirman Consultants
After retiring from Bell Labs in 1997, Mr. Heirman started his own EMC consultation business – Don HEIRMAN Consultants. He serves as the President of Don HEIRMAN Consultants and provides EMC training and education consultancy. In this role, he organizes EMC Workshops and Trainings all over the U.S., provides training on standardization processes (employed by IEEE, IEC, and CISPR), and offers guidance on how to become involved in standards development activities.
