The University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center, commonly known as U-PARC, is a one-million-square foot (93,000 m2), high-security research park campus of the University of Pittsburgh that is located 14 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh in Harmar Township, Pennsylvania adjacent to Route 28 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. U-PARC is currently home to both academic programs as well as more than 100 different companies from all over the world, including several Fortune 500 Companies. Featuring 53 buildings situated on over 85 acres (0.34 km2), facilities include office, research, laboratory, light industrial, and warehousing spaces. Buildings are connected indoors throughout the campus via underground tunnels. On-site amenities include 24-hour monitored access points, free parking, a cafeteria, catering service, meeting/conference space, a U.S. Postal Service sub-station, a credit union, ATMs, picnic areas, outdoor dining, volleyball courts, locker rooms, and shower facilities. In addition, the university's Swanson School of Engineering maintains laboratories at the site and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences' Masters of Science program in Physician Assistant Studies is based there.
History
U-PARC was founded as the research labs of Gulf Oil in 1935. For many decades it was one of the leading industrial research centers in the world, with labs encompassing research ranging from petroleum, chemical, polymers, refining to even nuclear applications thanks to a three million volt Van De Graff particle accelerator 1985, when Gulf Oil was acquired by Chevron Oil which maintained its own research facilities in Richmond, California, the complex had grown to 85 acres with 54 multi-story lab buildings and employing nearly 2,000 scientists and engineers with an annual operation budget of over $100 million. The University of Pittsburgh proposed that it would be able to maintain and operate the facility in order to keep the center open for the benefit of the region. Gulf and Chevron agreed to the university's proposal and donated the site, valued at $100 million including the fully furnished and equipped laboratories, a computer telecommunications center, and an executive office building. Chevron also added a $3 million start up grant, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania added a $3 million matching grant for economic development. The donation was announced by university Chancellor Wesley Posvar at a press conference in April, 1985. The university took over the facility in early 1986 and renamed it the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center.
On March 17, 1986, the university signed its first major tenant, General Motors Corporation, to a four year, $13 million contract. Today, U-PARC's pilot plant services range from petroleum, petrochemical, and chemical-based technologies to environmental, synthetic fuels, biotechnology, and other emerging technologies. In addition to the companies that rent occupy the facilities at U-PARC, the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering maintains research groups and laboratories at the site, including the Manufacturing Assistance Center. Beginning in 2010, the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences initiated a Masters of Science program in Physician Assistant Studies headquartered at U-PARC. The space for the Physician's Assistant program includes classrooms, breakout rooms, student lounge, computer room, conference room and offices for faculty and administration.
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