- Two required blocks of co-op provide you with hands-on, full-time paid work experience in industry.
- A packaging career fair connects our packaging science majors with more than 25 employers in the packaging industry. Network with company representatives and interview directly for open co-op and permanent employment positions.
- Recent graduates are employed at American Packaging Corporation, Colgate-Palmolive, CooperVision, GlaxoSmithKline, Hasbro, Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, and more.
Product packaging is increasingly related to total marketing concepts. It has an even greater dependence on new developments in materials and processes as eco-friendly product packaging has emerged as a growing way for companies to reduce the environmental impacts and the ecological footprints of product packaging. As a result, the packaging industry requires professionals–packaging engineers, packaging designers, product developers, and more–with a strong background in engineering, design, and business to infuse the industry with creativity and innovation.
What is Packaging Science?
Packaging science is a dynamic major that integrates engineering, design, and business to develop and design product packaging for a range of consumer goods. Packaging engineers and packaging designers focus on understanding the packaging needs of a product and what it must accomplish. These needs can range from maintaining food freshness and safety, keeping products safe from damage during transportation, appealing to consumers at the point of purchase, communicating product information, sustaining transportation efficiency, complying with sustainable practices for post-use recycling and reuse, and more. It's the role of packaging engineers and packaging designers to responsibility weigh these factors into the conceptualization, design, and development of product packaging.
RIT's Packaging Science Degree
RIT's packaging science degree is one of the most unique and well respected in the country. You'll study course work in three key areas:
- Engineering: Physics, packaging materials and biopolymers, shock and vibration, packaging for pharmaceuticals and medical products.
- Design: Packaging design, protective packaging, product packaging, sustainable packaging.
- Business: Packaging for distribution, packaging and the supply chain, packaging regulations, marketing, operations, and communications.
The packaging science degree also includes extensive laboratory work. You'll explore packaging solutions and tackle real-life problem-solving in hands-on lab assignments that take place in state-of-the-art facilities, including the Packaging Materials Lab, Packaging Science Dynamics Lab, and the American Packaging Corporation Center for Packaging Innovation.
Two blocks of required cooperative education experience in the packaging industry is also part of the curriculum. RIT's packaging science degree is the only program in the country that requires its students to complete cooperative education.
Packaging Science Industry Advisory Board
The Industry Advisory Board contributes professional and technical expertise to the packaging science degree, which strengthens and develops the curriculum to reflect the dynamics and growth of the industry.
Combined Accelerated Bachelor's/Master's Degrees
Today's careers require advanced degrees grounded in real-world experience. RIT's Combined Accelerated Bachelor's/Master's Degrees enable you to earn both a bachelor's and a master's degree in as little as five years of study, all while gaining the valuable hands-on experience that comes from co-ops, internships, research, study abroad, and more.
+1 MBA Early Acceptance Pathway: Successful RIT applicants who are offered admission into the BS degree in packaging science as an incoming first-year student may also be offered conditional early acceptance into the +1 MBA Early Acceptance Pathway. This option enables you to earn both your BS degree and an MBA in as little as five years of study. Learn how the +1 MBA Early Acceptance Pathway can help you add a competitive advantage to your studies.
+1 MBA: Students who enroll in a qualifying undergraduate degree have the opportunity to add an MBA to their bachelor's degree after their first year of study, depending on their program. Learn how the +1 MBA can accelerate your learning and position you for success.