Featured Faculty
Carlos Diaz
College of Engineering Technology
CARLOS DIAZ IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PACKAGING SCIENCE AT RIT. HE WORKS WITH RIT’S CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING TO DEVELOP NEW GENERATION MATERIALS AND PACKAGING SOLUTIONS THAT REDUCE FOOD AND ENERGY WASTE. HE CHAIRS THE SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING WORKING GROUP FOR THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PACKAGING RESEARCH INSTITUTES (IAPRI).
He has focused on engaging undergraduate and master students in research. With funding from New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) he has looked at ways to improve the performance of biodegradable plastics which in turn could support compostable waste streams. In collaboration with Dr. Christiaan Richter in Chemical Engineering, they investigated the oxygen scavenging abilities of titanium oxide nanotubes. Through experiments conducted by RIT undergraduate students, they demonstrated the nanotubes can remove oxygen 2400 times faster than current commercial oxygen scavengers. The results were published in Nature Nanotechnology.
His research interests include packaging technologies based on plastic materials, bio-based plastics and composites, nanotechnology in packaging, microcellular foaming and Design of Experiments (DOE). He co-authored the Vinyl Alcohol Polymers chapter in the second edition of the Handbook of Thermoplastics released this past December. Prior to joining RIT, Dr. Diaz was a research associate for the School of Packaging at Michigan State University where he studied migration of nano-components in nano-clay/polymer composite films for food contact application. His doctoral dissertation dealt with “Continuous Microcellular Foaming of Polylactic Acid/Natural Fiber Composites.”
CARLOS DIAZ
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
PACKAGING SCIENCE
COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY