Nicolas Navarro

Biography:

Nico grew up in a small town in Costa Rica surrounded by coffee farms. He completed his bachelors of science degree in Industrial Engineering at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology. In his free time, Nico likes to hike, watch movies and hang out with his friends. He also enjoys reading fiction, as well as philosophical and political books.

Nico completed a short internship at Virginia Tech during his undergraduate education, and when it came time to do his graduate degree, he decided to come back to the campus he’d enjoyed. In Nico's research, he looked at how technology could be used to remotely collect data about packages and unit loads during distribution and what the implications were of such technology on the interactions between different types of stakeholders in supply chains. Knowing how technology can be implemented to improve the knowledge that companies have about the condition of their products during distribution provides many cost savings opportunities relating to less damage, more visibility, and greater efficiency.

Nico has since joined us as Associate Director and Lab Manager. His experience during his graduate work in the lab is very valuable to CPULD - especially as he's already learned how to work with our team to achieve the goals of our organization. 

Areas of Expertise and Research Interest:

• Working on real-world industrial projects.
• Working to make sure the daily lab activities create value for our clients.
• Figuring out how to manage the interns to accomplish all lab tasks.

Work Responsibilities:

• Helps manages the pallet and distribution testing labs.
• Helps organize and order supplies.
• Manages interns and scheduling for the pallet and distribution testing labs.