EDITOR'S NOTE: The full Board of Trustees approved the proposal at its meeting on Nov. 8.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Board of Trustees’ Finance and Investment Committee advanced a proposal today (Nov. 7) to construct a new Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) Building on the University Park campus.
The proposed project will be considered by the full board on Nov. 8.
Located at Penn State’s Innovation Park, the facility will drive ARL’s interdisciplinary research, promote recruitment and retention of talent, and support a facility renewal plan for aging infrastructure.
The four-story, approximately 80,000-square-foot facility will provide space for relocated research programs and enable capacity for research program growth. In addition to space for research activities, it will include spaces for offices, conference rooms, computing and building support. The estimated cost is $91.1 million and will be funded entirely by ARL, as a self-supported unit.
“Next year, ARL will celebrate its 80th birthday,” said Executive Director Allan Sonsteby. “As we look to the next 80 years of research excellence, the new building will support our mission of innovation, education, scientific discovery and transition to application. I’m grateful for our incredible legacy which would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors, University colleagues, and generations of ARL employees.”
Founded in 1945 at the request of the U.S. Navy, the Applied Research Laboratory is the largest research unit at Penn State. A self-supported unit with total research expenditures of $388 million in University fiscal year 2023, ARL remains a vital part of the University’s research portfolio.