Brochure describing the SJSU Packaging Program (pdf)

Video describing the field of packaging (RealPlayer/Quicktime, WindowsMedia)

Video describing the packaging program at SJSU (RealPlayer/Quicktime, WindowsMedia)

Click any of the links below to read more about this concentration.

What is packaging?
What do Packaging Engineers do?
Careers in packaging
Demand for Packaging graduates
The Need for Packaging Engineers

In the words of our own grads...

What is Packaging?
Packaging is an exciting, dynamic profession that uniquely involves all of the following:

• Engineering
• Science
• Technology
• Design
• Environment
• Business

Packaging professionals bring to market innovative, cost-effective packaging that allows their companies to attract new customers and increase their business. They are developing revolutionary new food and drug packages that will extend the life of perishable products so they can safely be shipped all over the world.

Our society is realizing the importance of packaging, and more persons are needed to enter the packaging profession to help protect consumers, our natural resources and the environment through packages that are environmentally sound.

Packaging has various functions in today's society. It provides protection for the product it contains, for example in absorbing impacts and vibrations in distribution, and protection to humans, through features that indicate if products have been tampered with. It provides communication through symbols that are only read by machines, such as the bar codes, and intensive communication in the human environment through colors, and many printed messages that help sell the product and inform users and consumers of product attributes. Packaging provides consumers and users with enormous conveniences (for example, we can today find many products in many different sizes and at various locations, which would be nearly impossible without packaging). top

What do Packaging Engineers do?
Design, develop and test packages, packaging materials, packaging systems, transportation and handling systems for all kinds of products (such as computers, all types of electronics equipment, food, drug, medical devices, hazardous materials, raw materials for the manufacturing industries, fresh fruit and vegetables, among many others). The proposed concentration will fill a gap in the workforce where there is a need for Packaging Engineers.

Every product needs packaging for protection during transportation, handling, storage and use. As a "shell" to the product, packages provide protection against impacts, vibration, compressive forces, temperature, humidity, electrostatic discharge, and pressure changes, among other hazards. For food products, for example, protection is needed against microorganisms, oxidation, heat, and even against people to prevent malicious tampering. Recent developments in materials, equipment, and systems require professionals with sophisticated engineering knowledge to design, manage, and implement packaging systems. Design of "intelligent" and "active" packaging are complex developments that require broad engineering knowledge.

Packaging Engineers are employed by almost every organization. In addition, there are many companies that are in the packaging business: Dow Chemical, International Paper, Cryovac, THARCO, FedEx, UPS, etc., making the Packaging Industry about $130 billion a year in sales in the USA. top

Careers in packaging
Packaging development deals with the design, testing and evaluation of packages to provide protection to products, to people, and the environment. The demand for packaging professionals is very high, mainly because there are only a few schools that offer packaging as a discipline. San Jose State University is located in the heart of Silicon Valley and is the only university that offers a packaging major west of the Mississippi River.

Packaging is the nation's third largest industry, and it is growing. Packaging graduates are in such a demand that each graduate has, on average, three job offers on graduation. Since SJSU is one of only ten packaging programs in the US, our graduates are among the most sought after and highly paid of college graduates.

SJSU packaging graduates are hired to:

• Design and develop new products, packages and packaging systems
• Engineer and manage automated production and distribution systems; manage packaging development
• Manage the purchasing, control and disposal of packaging and other materials
• Market and sell package materials and equipment.

Packaging development deals with the design, testing and evaluation of packages to provide protection to products, to people, and the environment. The demand for packaging professionals is very high, mainly because there are only a few schools that offer packaging as a discipline. San Jose State University is located in the heart of Silicon Valley and is the only university that offers a packaging major west of the Mississippi River. top

Demand for Packaging graduates
Packaging is the nation's third largest industry, and it is growing. Packaging graduates are in such a demand that each graduate has, on average, three job offers on graduation. Since SJSU is one of only ten packaging programs in the US, our graduates are among the most sought after and highly paid of college graduates. top

The Need for Packaging Engineers
There is a shortage of Packaging Engineers and non-engineering professionals currently fill many of these positions. The only way companies can maintain a packaging engineering department is by hiring professionals from other areas and train them to become qualified to perform the job of an engineer. top

San Jose State University is the only institution of higher education west of the Mississippi that is prepared to offer a concentration in Packaging Engineering. University of Missouri-Rolla offers a concentration in Packaging Engineering within the Manufacturing Engineering Program (ABET accredited) and Rutgers University offers classes in packaging engineering as part of several engineering programs. Other schools offer packaging as a concentration or as a degree in a variety of departments. With just a few universities offering packaging as a discipline and only UMR and Rutgers offering engineering programs, and because of our capability and location, employers are urging SJSU to implement a Concentration in Packaging Engineering. Employers from around the country seeking to interview our students for packaging engineering positions have many times contacted SJSU. Even with the existing format (Packaging Concentration in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science), the demand for SJSU packaging graduates has been much higher than the supply - written requests for graduates and posted job announcements average 100 per year.