Penn State Board Approves Building Proposals

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State’s Board of Trustees Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning approved proposals on July 16 for renovations to the Deike Building on the State College campus as well as an agricultural digester and replacement barns in the dairy research complex.

The university plans to renovate three floors of the Deike Building, built in 1965, to add a new laboratory space for the Department of Geosciences, which offers degrees in geosciences, geobiology, earth sciences, and policy and earth sciences. The project will include the creation of a clean room in addition to clean and wet chemistry labs, instruments rooms, teaching labs, field equipment shops and related spaces. The modern labs will replace those currently located in the Hosler Building, which was constructed in the 1950s. The committee approved Cleveland-based Bostwick Design Partnership to design the project, which will also include improvements to the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

The university’s dairy research program includes management of the Penn State dairy herds and other livestock at a dairy complex at University Park. Currently, the university transports unprocessed manure from the complex to spread on nearly 1,500 acres of university-owned land, but restrictions limit where and when application can happen.

Construction of a complete mix digester to convert raw manure to digestate for land application could improve the manure management process. This would allow the university to apply the material with no restrictions to the 1,500 acres.

Additionally, the dairy complex’s two outdated existing barns will be demolished and replaced with one free stall barn, which will also help with manure management. The Board of Trustees Committee approved the appointment of Pittsburgh-based Mascaro Construction Co. to design and build the agricultural digester and diary barn replacement.