Research campus pulls NCSU into a faster pace

RALEIGH -- In the world of a university, professors are famous for their endless debates. David H. Murdock cuts million-dollar deals in a day.

At N.C. State University, about 50 faculty members were told Monday that such stark differences are among the things they need to appreciate as they think about their roles in the academic-business partnership that will define the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis.

Murdock is expected to spend more than $1 billion to make the campus a reality. The research jobs he creates will be new, but some are likely to be filled by scientists and lab workers who already are on the Raleigh campus.

"Mr. Murdock likes to say two hours is too long and two days is an eternity," said Steve Leath, an associate dean at N.C. State University. "It's a pace many of us aren't used to."

Leath made his comments at a town hall meeting during which he outlined NCSU's plans for the new 350-acre research campus. At least seven North Carolina universities will conduct research there.

An 83-year-old billionaire, Murdock is the owner of Dole Food and the primary financier of the project. He hopes to make the campus a magnet for nutritional research that will fundamentally change the way fruits and vegetables are consumed throughout the world.

The sprawling complex of labs, offices, homes and retail is on the site of the former Pillowtex mill, which closed in 2003.

The Core Lab, anchored by Duke University, is to open in the fall. NCSU's Institute for Advanced Fruit and Vegetable Science should be ready in a year. The UNC-Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute should open in early 2008.

In general, NCSU faculty members liked what they heard Monday. To speed construction and attract top scientists, Leath said Murdock simply ordered the best equipment available for immediate delivery.

That means people such as John Mackenzie, coordinator of the NCSU Center for Electron Microscopy, will have access to microscopes that few universities could ever afford.

And if he or his colleagues need to split their time between Kannapolis and Raleigh, the campus has apartments they can use for free. Permanent housing is also available on campus.

In addition to NCSU, UNC-CH and Duke, the campus will have researchers from UNC-Charlotte, N.C. A&T, UNC-Greensboro and N.C. Central University.

Each university will focus on specific areas of research. NCSU's work will emphasize improvements in crop yields, as well as nutritional value, flavor, size, color and shelf life of produce.

But NCSU will be in the unique position of working directly with growers in ways that could dramatically change the state's agricultural base. Dole Food opened a salad plant last week west of Charlotte that can process 60 acres of lettuce per week. The state currently produces about 200 acres per year.

"So the potential for us to ramp up in this area is just tremendous," Leath said.

Murdock picked North Carolina partly because the state can produce a diverse mix of fruits and vegetables during long stretches of the year. Strawberries, for example, are grown eight months a year in the state.

But current levels of production would need to increase dramatically to meet Dole's needs, which is why Leath expects to see several contracts signed in the next year or two for large-scale production.

When those contracts are coupled with research findings from the campus in Kannapolis, NCSU could be in a position to help remake agriculture.

But it would be foolish to promise such grandiose results, Leath said. It isn't clear that the world's top scientists will come to Kannapolis or whether the universities will develop the close partnerships needed to leverage each other's research findings.

Taxpayers are being asked to contribute about $30 million a year to hire senior scientists and research teams -- an amount that Gov. Mike Easley didn't include in his annual budget request.

And if long-term funding is secured, there is no guarantee it won't eventually supplant money now spent on main campuses.

But Leath could make one promise to faculty.

"This is going to get started much faster than most people realize," he said. "NCSU needs to be there when that happens."