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ISU gains big assists from industry

Indiana State University is tapping packaging resources through its new R&D Center.

ISU's IPRDC manager Alex Hagedorn and packaging department head Dr. Marion Schafer provide the 'coaching' needed by tomorrow's p
ISU's IPRDC manager Alex Hagedorn and packaging department head Dr. Marion Schafer provide the 'coaching' needed by tomorrow's p

There are likely few packaging schools with a basketball hoop in the lab like at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, home of the Sycamores. Maybe it’s part of the lengthy shadow cast by one of the university’s most famous alumni, Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

The ISU staff acknowledges that it’s going to have to move the hoop, though, but not because it’s inappropriate. Rather, the hoop is mounted uncomfortably close to the packaging lab’s latest donation, a Kongsberg AutoCAD die cutter donated by the ICPF (see sidebar below) that precision-cuts paperboard and corrugated. Rare is the student who can shoot with Bird-like accuracy, especially when the hoop is “guarded” by large equipment.

With 10 graduates in 2004 and 30 graduates this year, the program—which has a strong emphasis in nonfood, transport, and distribution packaging—is gaining momentum.

Certainly, the scope of ISU’s packaging program pales against the likes of larger programs such as at Michigan State University. Yet, it appears that on a per-student basis, ISU may have one of the more successful contract R&D programs in packaging education.

The packaging curriculum, which can lead to a bachelor of science degree in packaging, boasts a high degree of personal attention. “All our students get to work on everything,” says department head Marion Schafer, PhD, gesturing to the well-equipped packaging lab that includes vibratory and compression testers, moisture-barrier analytical equipment for film, tensile-strength tester, and a host of other instruments large and small. It’s quite a lineup.

Schafer, who spent 19 years working for the local Pillsbury operation before leaving the Doughboy’s environs for the Sycamores’, has a game plan that uses the equipment to help bring real-world, hands-on research in-house—the Indiana Packaging Research & Development Center. Formed last year, the Center is managed by Alex Hagedorn, an International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) certified packaging laboratory professional technologist, one of only 75 CPLPs in the world. “It’s the only ISTA-certified packaging test lab in Indiana at a not-for-profit institution, and there are only a handful of private labs in the state,” adds Schafer. He says that the center has attracted business from companies outside Indiana, too.

The Center’s primary services include package testing (ISTA, TAPPI, and ASTM), package material testing, package design, and package troubleshooting. For the latter, research projects—some done for a fee, some for free, notes Schafer—have been undertaken by companies such as Pfizer, Rexam, and others (see sidebar). For example, some recent projects:

• developed consumer protection for products with sharp blades,

• discovered why lids on jars of powdered product were loosening in transit,

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