Sponsor Graduate Research
Sponsor Graduate Research image of VT campus
CPULD offers two ways to become involved in graduate research:
1. Industrial Affiliate Membership Program:
Our Industrial Affiliate Membership is designed to provide opportunities for groups of companies to sponsor fundamental research projects that create benefits for the whole group. Each year, projects are voted on by our members, and once the research is completed, the sponsoring companies can use the generated information to increase the competitiveness of their companies. In addition to this research knowledge, member companies also get discounts on short courses, testing projects, and one-on-one consulting.
2. Sponsored Research:
We also offer a more individualized research partnership option through our Sponsored Research Program. These are research projects that are tailored to answer an individual company's specific question(s). Virginia Tech offers a mechanism to transfer the generated Intellectual Property to the sponsoring company. The results of these types of research projects could remain confidential for up to 2 years.
Main benefits of sponsoring a graduate research project!
Students working/studying together
Find talented new employees
The students who are in our research programs are the best of their fields. Seeing them develop throughout your research projects could help you evaluate whether they could be a productive member of your team. After graduation, they are already fully familiar with your projects and they will be ready to apply their obtained expertise for your advantage.
Find solutions to your company's existing real life problems
As a sponsoring company, you can bring your real-time problems to CPULD and have a research project developed around solving your company’s issues! The students’ solutions, developed through these research projects, give you a competitive advantage over others in the industry.
Sitting in warehouse of boxes
Networking image
Enjoy new networking opportunities
Our sponsoring companies consist of packaging producers, product or packaging suppliers, and even final customers. Our annual membership meeting provides a great opportunity to network with other leading packaging companies.