RIT’s packaging science program, established in 1972, is one of the most unique and respected in the country. One of only a handful in the nation to offer the program, the discipline provides students exposure to laboratory experience and real-life problem solving. Embedded into the program is the required full-time co-op with a company, and RIT is the only institute in the country that requires all packaging science students to experience this opportunity. This allows students to develop their professional skills, expand their real-world experience, and, most importantly, broaden their industry contacts. RIT's relationship with industry leaders and the skills students obtain in development, sales, and purchasing results in professional careers within this multi-billion dollar industry. This relationship, along with the faculty being packaging professionals, ensures that students acquire the most current technological knowledge base.
Real industry student projects each year
Possible focus areas: sustainable packaging, packaging design, biopolymers, shock and vibration, pharmaceutical, medical products, and food packaging
International Safe Transit Association Certified Packaging Dynamics and Research Lab
Analytical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, resiliency, and flexibility are among the top skills needed for emerging careers by 2025. Anticipating these rapid changes in the workplace—further accelerated by lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic—RIT is seizing on the opportunity to guide students to “new economy majors” that are multidisciplinary, transformative, and future-focused.
The RIT student-designers on Team Frears placed second in the 2020 Paperboard Packaging Student Design Challenge for their packaging designs of a toolkit for educators to be distributed by the national program Trees into Cartons, Cartons into Trees, (TICCIT).
Karen Proctor, professor of packaging science, worked with faculty from graphic design and industrial design to provide students with a unique opportunity for collaborative design. Through these three...
With a faculty committed to excellence, our undergraduate program provides a significant theoretical background coupled with extensive design and project experiences throughout the curriculum. Cooperative educational work is the hallmark of an RIT education, and the packaging science undergraduate program includes at least two of these experiences combined with faculty research opportunities.
Mathematics and the physical sciences are introduced in a just-in-time fashion while technical courses are incorporated every semester. Students are introduced to the multidimensional packaging field each semester. Progressing through the curriculum, projects become larger and design experiences more intense. By the final year of the program, students participate in realistic project-based design challenges as they ready themselves to be self-sufficient in the workplace.
The Master of Science degree in packaging science is designed to educate packaging professionals to become experts in the packaging development process. Students learn how to select raw materials, design, and create packaging to withstand environmental hazards during transportation, and to create aesthetically pleasing packages to pique consumer interest. Through a combination of theoretical and application-focused learning experiences, students gain comprehensive knowledge related to packaging design, package testing, product marketing, project management, and quality control.
The flexible packaging minor addresses flexible containment systems, one of the fastest growing segments of the packaging materials industry. The manufacturing and use of flexible containment systems requires specific expertise and knowledge of appropriate technology for implementation. Flexible pouches and containment systems are considered more sustainable for replacing glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles, and metal cans. They use materials more efficiently and reduce the weight and costs associated with physical distribution activities.
The packaging science minor offers courses covering a broad range of packaging activities, including development/design, testing, marketing, and production. Related legal, economic, and environmental/sustainability concerns are also addressed. Students from majors such as engineering, engineering technology, multidisciplinary studies, management, marketing, international business, industrial design, and print media could all benefit from the packaging science minor.