News
Department of Packaging and Graphic Media Science

For the last several decades, volunteer groups have played a pivotal role in keeping RIT’s curriculum relevant and current with the latest industry trends. The groups of 10 to 30 leaders from a wide variety of companies come together a few times a year to offer their insights for RIT faculty and staff in nearly every college.

Team Pacman, a group of undergraduate students from Rochester Institute of Technology, placed second among 54 entries from competing universities in the recent Paperboard Packaging Alliance’s national Student Design Challenge.

You do what? From accountant to the stars to sustainable chocolate producer, RIT alumni have some pretty cool careers. Read about Allison Ritter ’14 (media arts and technology), creative director for IBM’s X-Force Command in Boston.

The School of Media Sciences “…has tremendous resources to support student work, backed by knowledgeable and caring professors; this helped in maintaining motivation while  gaining confidence in my skills and abilities.”

David Pflanz ’19, Sedera Zbranak ’19 and fourth-year student Karrie Chen worked with Print Panther, an independent print production company, to create the award-winning holiday box design.

Five alumni from RIT’s College of Engineering Technology were honored with Rising Star awards during a campus reception last month. Given to alumni who graduated from CET within the past five to 10 years, the awardees were recognized for outstanding achievements early in their careers, for significant public service contributions and in helping to advance the careers of new professionals.

Images of plastic bags and bottles clogging beaches and oceans have some calling for a ban on all such products. But packaging experts say it’s not that easy to eliminate a highly effective material. Instead, researchers at RIT are looking to strike a balance: Find a way to produce plastics that retain their best qualities and yet are more environmentally friendly.

RIT’s “Packin’ Heat” student team was a spicy favorite at the 2018 Paperboard Packaging Student Design Challenge. The group of undergraduates took first place among 58 collegiate teams in the national design competition.

Shantinique Cowans ’18 was able to live on campus thanks to the M. Forrest and Robert Hurlbut Residence College Fund. Cowans is one example of how students are already benefiting from RIT’s $1 billion blended campaign.