New Homes for Food Science and Forest Resources

Even though the new Food Science Building won’t be completed until June 2006, it has already begun to have a positive impact. “During the last five years, the promise of the new building helped our department attract some of the brightest minds in food science to Penn State,” said John Floros, professor and head of food science, at the building’s groundbreaking ceremony.

As the College of Agricultural Sciences looks toward the future, the Department of Food Science and the School of Forest Resources are also looking forward to moving into brand-new facilities on the University Park campus.

Construction is under way on Ag Hill for a new $45 million Food Science Building that will provide students and faculty with state-of-the-art research and education facilities. The new building will ensure that the Department of Food Science stays strong by recruiting and retaining the highest-caliber faculty and students and educating those students with quality teaching and dynamic research.

It will support Pennsylvania’s food processing and manufacturing industry through specialized research and technology transfer expertise and by providing pilot plant facilities for large and small food companies.

“This project started a long time ago, and now we’re seeing the fruits of our efforts,” says John Floros, head of the Department of Food Science. “To my knowledge, this will be the largest food science building in the country, and I think that’s indicative of the importance that Pennsylvania and Penn State place on the future of food science. With new facilities such as three pilot plants and a state-of-the-art sensory research lab, we’ll continue to work closely with the state’s food industry—from the small “mom-and-pop” operations to large companies such as Hershey and Heinz.”

Of particular interest to fans of Peachey Paterno and WPSX Coffee Break ice cream, the Food Science Building will feature the new Berkey Creamery. With a salesroom at least twice as large as that in the current creamery, “the lines that everyone is familiar with will most likely disappear because we’ll get people through a lot faster,” says Floros. “The new creamery also will be an improvement in terms of production, processing, and manufacturing.”

The new Berkey Creamery, named for alumni donors Jeanne and Earl Berkey, will be not only an enhanced production facility—it will serve as an educational facility as well. “Industry will come and learn from us,” says Floros. “It will be a place where we’ll train our students, who will become the workforce for the dairy processing and manufacturing industry.”

To increase visibility on campus, the building will be designed for tours. Visitors will be able to view, through glass, facilities such as the pilot plants, sensory research lab, and production sections of the creamery, gaining a better understanding of food science. The target completion date for the new building is June 2006, in time for faculty to move in and start the new academic year in their new home.

About a football field to the north, the new Forest Resources Building is rapidly approaching completion. During its construction, the steel workers’ tradition of placing a “topping-off tree” on the completed frame of the building was observed with a 30-foot Douglas fir, part of the school’s genetic research in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Tree Improvement Program (PennTIP).The new $30.5 million Forest Resources Building will allow all three professional programs of the School of Forest Resources—forest science, wildlife and fisheries science, and wood products—to be housed under one roof. Offering 50 percent more space than the school’s current facilities, it will feature four teaching labs, two technology classrooms, a 150-seat-capacity auditorium, computer labs, and a GIS lab for graduate students. A major set of research laboratories has been designed for the various disciplines within forestry, fisheries, water resources, wildlife, and wood products. A 60-seat conference room with video teleconferencing capability, as well as five meeting rooms and a publication production room, will enhance the school’s outreach activities. A student activity center and areas for indoor and outdoor study will support undergraduate and graduate education.

Ground was broken for the new $27.5 million Forest Resources Building in October 2004. The four-story, 95,000-square-foot building will, for the first time in the school’s history, allow all three professional programs—forest science, wildlife and fisheries science, and wood products—to be housed under one roof. The new building will offer 50 percent more space than the school’s current Ferguson Building and the Forest Resources Lab locations combined.

The new building will help the School of Forest Resources continue to recruit and retain the best faculty and students, educate students with quality teaching facilities, and provide dynamic research and specialized technology transfer for Pennsylvania’s wood products industry. A unique aspect of the building is the extensive use of wood paneling, furniture, and laminated beams. These were provided as a gift from the state’s wood products industry,
coordinated by the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association. Bower Lewis Thrower Architects have blended these materials within a contemporary building design to achieve a showcase for Pennsylvania hardwoods.

“Our school is one of the most highly regarded forest resources centers in the nation,” says Charles Strauss, director of the School of Forest Resources. “We have a longstanding tradition
of providing a source of well-trained graduates for public and private interests in forestry and wood products and allied natural resource professions, as well as innovative research in new wood products, ecological systems, and natural resource management. “This is a tremendous gain for our school as well as for the college,” Strauss continues. “It’s more than a building—this structure identifies our school’s nearly 100-year heritage within Penn State and ‘Penn’s Woods.’ Our undergraduate and graduate students are the lifeblood of our school, and through this new building we are investing in these young people. They are the future professional strengths within forestscience, wildlife and fisheries science, and wood products.”

—Krista Weidner