University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center
The University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center (U-PARC) is a one-million-square foot (93,000 m2), high-security research park campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Comprising 53 buildings situated on over 85 acres (0.34 km2), U-PARC is located 14 miles (23 km) from Downtown Pittsburgh in Harmar Township, Pennsylvania adjacent to the Route 28 expressway and Interstate 76, the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
It was founded as the research laboratories of Gulf Oil in 1933 and moved to Harmar Township in 1935. It served many decades as one of the leading industrial research centers in the world, with labs engaging in petroleum, chemical, polymer, refining, and nuclear research. At its peak, it employed over 2,000 scientists and engineers and had an annual budget of $100 million ($223 million in 2016 dollars). Upon Gulf Oil's acquisition by Chevron Oil in 1985, the research park was donated to the University of Pittsburgh in order to keep the center open for the benefit of the region.
U-PARC is home to more than 100 different companies from around the world, including several Fortune 500 Companies. In addition, the university's Swanson School of Engineering maintains laboratories and its Manufacturing Assistance Center at the site. It also serves as the home to the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences' Masters of Science program in Physician Assistant Studies.
U-PARC was founded as the research labs of Gulf Oil in 1933 in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. Work began on its current Harmar Township location in August 1934 with the opening of the first three buildings 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 Graaff particle accelerator. It also served for a time as the site of geophysics research by two-time winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, John Bardeen. Products developed in its labs included the airborne magnetometer, the marsh buggy, No-Nox gasoline, Gulf Spray pesticide, and processes for the hydrodesulfurization of sour crude oil and shale oil extraction. For at least the first 20 years of its existence it was the "most highly integrated of all the petroleum research laboratories in the world". By 1955, it employed over 1,200, and by the late 1970s, it employed 1,500.General Matthew Ridgway keynoted the dedication of three new research laboratories at the center in May, 1957 with Richard King Mellon and about 600 others in attendance. In 1985 Gulf Oil was acquired by Chevron Corporation which maintained its own research facilities in Richmond, California, the complex had grown to 85 acres (340,000 m2) with 54 multi-story lab buildings and employed 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, an executive office building, and unique facilities such as large cold room containing a wind tunnel. 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 and in two years was sheltering 80 small businesses.
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