Pack Expo scholarship delivers financial support to University of Illinois packaging students

The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI), the leading global packaging industry resource and trade association, announced that University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), located in Urbana, IL, has named student recipients of its 2007 PACK EXPO Scholarship. UIUC was one of 19 schools with a packaging curriculum that received scholarship funds from PMMI’s PACK EXPO Scholarship program. Scholarship recipients were recognized at PACK EXPO International in Chicago, Illinois in October 2006.

at Urbana- Champaign was awarded $9500 in PACK EXPO Scholarship Funds.

The following students will receive a PACK EXPO Scholarship to support their packaging education:

• Christina Weeks – Weeks, a student in the M.S. Food Science and Human Nutrition program, is currently studying the ‘Effect of Light Transmission in Packaging Materials on Fresh Meat Products.’ She has received a B.S. in Food Industry and Business from UIUC.
• Yi Wang – Wang is currently in the Ph.D Food Science and Human Nutrition program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is studying ‘Gas Transmission Through Biobased Packaging Films.’  He has a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University.
• Felicia de Santos – de Santos has received an M.S. in Food Science and Human Nutrition from UIUC.   Currently a student in the Ph.D. Food Science and Human Nutrition program, she is studying ‘Modified Atmosphere Packaging and Irradiation and the Stability of Fresh Meat.’
• Bin Zhou – Zhou has received a B.S. and M.S. degree in Food Science from Shenyang Agricultural University and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology. Currently a student in the Ph.D. Food Science and Human Nutrition program, Zhou is studying ‘The Effects of Packaging Material and Packaging Method on the Quality of Fresh and Fresh-cut Produce During Storage.’
• Patricio R. Lozano – Lozano, a student in the Ph.D. Food Science and Human Nutrition program, is studying ‘Mechanisms that Protein or Protein-based Packaging Films Use to Interact with Aroma Compounds of Off-Flavor Compounds.’  He has a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Zamorano University (Honduras) and an M.S. in Food Science from UIUC.

PMMI introduced the PACK EXPO Scholarship program in August 2006, to financially support students at packaging schools throughout the U.S. and Canada.  In less than three months, PMMI and PACK EXPO exhibitors raised $127,050, surpassing its goal of $100,000.  PMMI underwrote all marketing and development efforts to ensure that 100% of the funds raised were donated directly to schools to benefit students.

“PMMI and PACK EXPO exhibitors are committed to driving the strength of the packaging industry. We acknowledge the importance and necessity of fostering the education and development of the next generation of packaging leaders,” says Charles D. Yuska, president and CEO, PMMI. “PACK EXPO was an ideal opportunity to recognize the contributions of the universities, technical institutes and students that support the show.”

Founded in 1992, the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign Packaging Program’s unique approach provides engineering and sciences students with the knowledge and scope necessary to integrate advanced theoretical concepts and applied skills into packaging and its related disciplines. Scholarship recipients were selected from the UIUC Packaging Program, as well as students enrolled in the Food Engineering division of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Department of Agricultural Engineering, or other departments of engineering at the UIUC who are currently involved in packaging research curriculum.

PMMI's Education and Training Foundation offers a number of scholarship programs to support member employees, packaging machinery students and partner schools. Each year, more than $100,000 is provided to packaging students, member employees and packaging schools. PMMI has a long history of supporting the education efforts and looks forward to continuing this tradition through financial support and program leadership.

Founded in 1933, the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) is the leading global resource and trade association for the packaging industry.  PMMI’s membership has grown to more than 500 members who manufacture packaging and packaging-related converting machinery and twenty three supplier members who manufacture commercially available packaging machinery components in the United States and Canada.  PMMI members are globally renowned for making the highest quality equipment, offering responsive service and committing to meeting their customers’ needs.  More than one out of every four machines sold around the world is made by a PMMI member company.  For more information, visit pmmi.org.