New food science building breaks ground

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State recently broke ground for a $45.7 million Food Science Building.
The 130,000-square-foot Food Science Building, located at the corner of Curtin and Bigler roads on the University Park campus, will include modern teaching and research laboratories, classrooms and offices, plus expanded production and customer-service space for the Berkey Creamery.
Three specialized pilot plants will test research concepts for possible development at an industrial scale by food companies that choose to partner with Penn State.
The building also will house the largest and most sophisticated dairy manufacturing plant associated with any academic institution in the country.
The cutting-edge scientific and educational facilities will play a significant role in the state’s food processing industry
Even though the building is scheduled to be completed in June 2006, it has already begun to have an impact on the state’s food industry, said John Floros, head of the Penn State Department of Food Science.
“During the last five years, we increased our undergraduate student population and became the largest program in the East; we doubled our Ph.D. program; and we increased our research expenditures, mostly through grants and contracts, by 500 [percent] to 600 percent.”