Saewhan Kim receives Massey Award

Saewhan Kim, a doctoral candidate studying under Associate Professor Laszlo Horvath, was named as the recipient the A.B. Massey Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for Spring 2024. He is expecting to graduate in 2025. Saewhan also received the Sigma Xi research award each of the last two years, and also received the H.E. Burkhart Outstanding Masters Student Award in 2022, and the Career Start Award from the International Association of Packaging Research Institutes.

Getting to know Saewhan Kim 

I am from South Korea. I went to college in Toronto, Canada, at the Toronto Metropolitan University, majoring in Graphic Communications and Management with Packaging concentration. I like to go out with my lab mates after work hours. I have never felt lonely as an international student because my lab mates have always been great friends. I also love winter sports like skiing.

Why Virginia Tech? Why packaging?

The first time I got interested in packaging related study was when I was sophomore in college. The packaging courses I took in college introduced me to the idea that there are many people who contribute to engineering safer, more sustainable, and more cost-effective distribution packaging, which I never thought would be happening behind the scenes. The fact that distribution packaging is an inevitable factor in transporting goods for our daily lives and working in this field that could save both people’s lives and money charmed me to study packaging engineering. 

My undergraduate professor, Dr. Jay Park, was the first Ph.D. student of my current advisor Dr. Horvath. I expressed strong interest in distribution packaging research to Dr. Park, so he highly recommended me to contact Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design, because Dr. Horvath and the center are world widely renowned in their expertise in distribution packaging study field.

What are your future goals and plans that led you to study this topic?

I am hoping to go to the industry in Korea. South Korea is one of the most successful countries in manufacturing. Along with that, the e-commerce industry is booming on a large scale in Korea, currently. However, manufacturing and courier industries in Korea still do not recognize or, if they do, they neglect the importance of properly engineered distribution packaging. They usually use over-designed pallets to transport their goods. They usually over-pack cushioning materials for e-commerce items to make sure they survive the hazards in the distribution environment. These over-packaged or under-packaged items can both cause economic blows to industry, and environmental pollution is caused by too much discarded packaging and damaged products, which is not good for the planet. Hence, I am hoping to return to Korea and become someone who can educate their packaging industry about the potential for significant improvements in the distribution packaging they currently use in various aspects.

What knowledge and skills have you found to be the most useful? What advice would you give to future students?

 Continuously learning about packaging test standards and performing actual contract packaging testing have been extremely valuable experiences. We are ready to work as lab professionals right after we graduate, since we perform most of the distribution packaging tests on a daily basis. The convenience of easily accessing various types of research equipment in the laboratory, ranging from small sensors to large load stability testers, as needed, served as a solid foundation for achieving research outcome. Furthermore, Dr. Horvath offered me lots of opportunities to conduct research on different topics which allowed me to acquire a variety of skills. I believe that all these elements synergized to produce effective results.