Plantworks Project Feasibility Study

To elevate our plant research capacity to its full potential requires new ways of integrating and deciphering data together with more powerful and precise ways to engineer plants. The challenges presented by climate change to food security and forest sustainability make improvements to the Penn State plant research infrastructure imperative. Current plant growth facilities on the University Park campus include 80-year-old, individual-unit glasshouses with inadequate environmental controls and containment, ineffective pest exclusion/containment, and inadequate space for growth chambers that are scattered across the campus.