The Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Sciences should aim for nothing less than becoming the world leader in its field, recommends a recently completed report by the institute's planning committee.

While building strong teaching and research collaborations on campus, the institute should also serve as a readily accessible "portal" to industry and government, the report further suggests.

"They have 'set the bar high' for the institute, and I'm quite confident that our faculty will rise to that challenge," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "The report succeeds in setting the tone and sketching out initial directions for the institute, equipping us now to move toward implementing those recommendations."

The institute's overall vision should be to enhance "the quality of life through wine and food sciences," suggests the faculty committee appointed last fall by Van Alfen. The committee also proposes guiding principles, strategies and activities for the institute, which was founded in September with a $25 million gift from acclaimed winemaker Robert Mondavi.

The institute is intended to provide organizational structure for a broad range of teaching, research and public outreach programs in the wine and food sciences and related fields. It will house the existing departments of Viticulture and Enology and Food Science and Technology, and will be located on Old Davis Road near the campus's south entry from Interstate 80. Slated for completion in 2006, it will include a 127,000 square-foot academic building with classrooms, laboratories and offices; a 20,000 square-foot food science laboratory; and a 40,000 square-foot teaching and research winery.

In the report, committee members set forth the suggested vision and defining principles for the institute. In addition to building onto the teaching, research and outreach efforts of the viticulture and enology and food science and technology departments, the institute should "provide channels for entirely new programs," the report suggests.

Faculty positions will continue to be based in those two departments, which will retain their autonomy under the umbrella of the institute. Care will be taken to make sure that newly developed programs of the institute will not come at the expense of the existing departments.

And the report recommends that the institute's defining feature be to serve as "a gateway between UC Davis and the broad community of scientists, engineers, policy-makers and technologists engaged in all dimensions of wine and food science."

The report strongly encourages the formation of research centers in order to encourage collaborations between scientists in different fields, provide world leadership in specific areas and better attract external funding.

A variety of continuing education and outreach activities should be considered for the institute, the report suggests. These might include a lecture series; a dinner symposium series on wine, food and the arts; and educational programs linking wine and food science to art, culinary, cultural and historical practices.

The report recommends that the institute be led by an executive committee, made up of an institute executive director, chairs of the two founding departments and representatives from the dean's office of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. It also suggests that the institute form an advisory board including leaders from industry, government and the campus.

The report suggests that an implementation committee be appointed to execute the suggestions of the planning committee report, draft bylaws for the institute and conduct short-term planning activities through the 2002-2003 academic year. The implementation committee would also work to identify necessary resources for the center, form research centers, develop outreach activities and establish an agenda for fund-raising efforts.

The planning committee also recommends that efforts begin immediately to raise the profile of the new institute, perhaps through a wine and food science lecture series, a symposium at the UC Washington Center in Washington, D.C., development of promotional materials and Web site, and interactions with government and industry via an advisory board.

The planning committee included wine researchers Linda Bisson and Andrew Waterhouse; food scientists John Krochta and Stephanie Dungan; nutritionist Janet King; and Robert Smiley, dean of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. Also on the committee were Charles Shoemaker and James Wolpert, chairs of the food science and technology department and viticulture and enology department, respectively. The committee was chaired by Robert Powell, a professor of chemical engineering. DeeDee Kitterman, executive director of research and outreach, represented the dean's office of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

A complete copy of the planning committee's report is available on line at: http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/report.pdf.