Curriculum Vitae

A summary of my education, appointments, research funding, teaching, and scholarship. For the complete document, download the PDF below — and please email me if you’d like anything further.

Download CV (PDF)

Experience

  1. Assistant Professor in Packaging

    Virginia Tech — Department of Sustainable Biomaterials
    Faculty in the Packaging Systems and Design program. Teaching and research across packaging development, distribution systems, sustainable operations management, and CAD for packaging.

  2. Associate Director for Packaging Materials Testing

    Virginia Tech — Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design
    Founded and lead the Cold Chain Packaging Laboratory; oversee packaging materials testing operations, including the only IKEA-certified corrugated fiberboard testing laboratory in North America.

  3. Cold Chain Packaging Scientific Advisor

    Global Cold Chain Foundation — Council of Scientific Advisors (CSA)
    Provide scientific guidance on cold chain packaging performance, testing, and standards.

  4. Collegiate Assistant Professor / Instructor

    Virginia Tech — Packaging Systems and Design
    Developed and taught packaging courses including Packaging Machinery and Production Systems, Packaging Supply Chain, Distribution and Material Handling Systems, and Computer-Aided Packaging Design.

  5. Manager, Laboratory for Corrugated Packaging Testing

    Virginia Tech — Department of Sustainable Biomaterials
    Managed the IKEA-certified corrugated fiberboard testing laboratory and its certification operations.

  6. Laboratory Supervisor

    Virginia Tech — Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design
    Supervised unit load and transport packaging testing in support of consortium research.

  7. Supply Planning Analyst

    Kimberly-Clark Corporation
    Supply chain planning and optimization at a global CPG company in San José, Costa Rica.

Education

  1. Ph.D. in Forestry & Forest Products (Packaging)

    Virginia Tech
    Dissertation: Modeling of the fundamental mechanical interactions of unit load components during warehouse racking storage.

  2. M.S. in Forestry & Forest Products (Packaging)

    Virginia Tech
    Thesis: Investigation of pallet stacking patterns on unit load bridging.

  3. B.S. in Industrial Engineering

    Costa Rica Institute of Technology
Selected Grants & Sponsored Research
  • Effect of Pallet Overhang on Box Compression Strength — Phase 2. International Corrugated Packaging Foundation & Fibre Box Association, 2024 (PI).
  • Impact of Relative Humidity on the Thermal Efficiency of Fiber-Based Insulated Shipping Containers. International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), 2024 (PI).
  • Mapping of the Grocery Delivery-to-Home Process and Hazards in a Suburban Environment. International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), 2023 (PI).
  • Systematic Methodology to Enable Wide Adoption of Fiber-Based Insulation in Passive Shipping Containers. 4-VA Pre-Tenure Faculty Research Grant, 2022 (PI).
  • Effect of Pallet Overhang on Box Compression Strength. International Corrugated Packaging Foundation & Fibre Box Association, 2022 (Co-PI).
  • Investigation of Packaging Opportunities for Store-to-Consumer Distribution. Walmart Inc.

Selected industry-sponsored projects: Westrock, McKesson, Smurfit Kappa, and others (fiber-based produce trays, e-commerce cold-chain redesign, e-commerce packaging perception studies).

Teaching

I develop teaching materials for undergraduate students and external professional audiences, on campus and online, for class sizes ranging from six to fifty students.

  • SBIO 1014 — Introduction to Packaging Systems and Design
  • SBIO 2004 — Computer-Aided Design in Packaging
  • SBIO 3005/3006 — Sustainable Packaging Design
  • SBIO 3224 — Packaging Distribution Systems
  • SBIO 3244 — Packaging Machinery and Production Systems
  • SBIO 3264 — Packaging Supply Chain
  • SBIO 3464 — Sustainable Operations Management
  • SBIO 4224 — Industrial Packaging Systems
  • SBIO 5104 — Packaging Development
Selected Publications
Eduardo Molina (2026). Packaging as a Last-Mile Logistics Decision: Consumer Expectations Across E-Commerce Fulfillment Channels. Logistics.
DOI PDF
Eduardo Molina (2024). Analysis of Consumer Preferences and Operational Execution in a Global Environment for Direct-From-Store Deliveries. IAPRI 2024.
Saewhan Kim, Laszlo Horvath, Eduardo Molina, Benjamin Frank, Steven Johnson, Alonda Johnson (2023). Predicting the effect of pallet overhang on the box compression strength. PTS.
DOI
Eduardo Molina, A. Johnson, Z. Weston, et al. (2023). Investigation of Last-Mile Grocery Delivery in a Suburban Environment. ISTA 2023.
Eduardo Molina (2022). Development of a friction-driven finite element model to simulate the load bridging effect of unit loads stored in warehouse racks. IAPRI 2022.
See all publications
Certifications & Professional Memberships

Member of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (Elite Member; Packaging Sustainability Technical Committee) and the International Safe Transit Association (Pharma Committee).

Certified Packaging Professional (CPP)
Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) ∙ Present
Certified Thermal Professional (CTP)
International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) ∙ Present
Certified Packaging Dynamics Professional (PDP)
International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) ∙ Present
Areas of Expertise
Research Expertise
Cold Chain Packaging
Corrugated Fiberboard Testing
Finite Element Modeling
Packaging Distribution Systems
Industry & Professional
Supply Chain Management
IKEA-Certified Testing
Six Sigma (Green Belt)
APICS CPIM Certified
Languages
100%
English Fluent
100%
Spanish Native
60%
German Conversational
For the complete CV, references, or anything else, please email me.