RIT Packaging Science Major’s Award-Winning Paper Lands Trip to Italy

An RIT packaging science major recently spent two weeks touring Italy for writing an award-winning paper for an Italian packaging-technology contest.

Jenn Farrin’s paper, “Biodegradable Plastics From Natural Resources,” was selected from among entries to the Italian Packaging Technology Awards contest submitted from 15 U.S. educational institutions offering courses or degrees in packaging. The paper stood out from the others, says Tom Voss, RIT assistant professor of packaging science, who served on the screening committee.

As a group of “next generation packaging professionals,” Farrin, originally from Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and other winners toured Italian packaging manufacturers in Rome, Bologna, Venice, Milan, Pavia and Florence.

The contest was sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission, the Italian Association of Packaging Machinery Manufacturers and the Institute of Packaging Professionals.

Note: RIT’s packaging science degree program, part of the university’s College of Applied Science and Technology, the college of innovation, is one of only six in the nation. The college offers 31 undergraduate and graduate degree programs and 30 certificates and diplomas, emphasizing technology, service management and multidisciplinary studies, and leads the university in lifelong, corporate and outreach education, online learning, and international studies.