Eduardo Molina joined the department in January, 2018. He started his professional career with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Production Engineering from Costa Rica Institute of Technology and acquired professional experience working for five years as a Supply Chain Planning Analyst for a global corporation. Afterwards, he obtained a Master of Science degree in Packaging Systems and Design from Virginia Tech.

When he was taking undergraduate classes, he acquired an interest in Logistics and Supply Chain operations and decided to develop professionally in that area. Working as a Planning Analyst for Kimberly Clark Corporation he obtained knowledge and experience on the practical management of a global supply chain, including material handling in warehouses, local and international transportation and financial impacts of every decision. With this background and having experienced the importance of packaging in the logistics operations, he decided to pursue further education with a Master of Science degree in Packaging at Virginia Tech.

During his postgraduate education, he developed skills in packaging systems with an emphasis on transportation. He conducted research on the interactions between pallets, packages and the material handling equipment, specifically the effect of the stacking pattern of the packages on the pallet performance. This was conducted to further characterize the load bridging effect and collaborate in the process of improving the pallet design, reducing costs and increasing sustainability. He also worked as a Graduate Laboratory Manager at the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. This job, in addition to the graduate research, allowed him to learn extensively about the physical testing of packaging materials and its design, proper use of equipment and development of operational procedures, as well as an opportunity to guide and mentor undergraduate students. Eduardo will be teaching SBIO 2004 CAD in Packaging and another class to be determined.