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A new research program is about to raise Penn State University's profile in Western Pennsylvania and will likely pay dividends for students at the campus in McKeesport.

"One of the big areas we're working in right now is alternative energy --- particularly biofuels," says Deno De Ciantis, who's tentatively being billed as "director of the Greater Pittsburgh Metro Initiative." (One of the many things yet to be determined, De Ciantis says wryly, is his title.)

Currently being housed at Allegheny County's agricultural extension office, the proposed Pittsburgh research center is a joint effort of Penn State's Cooperative Extension, College of Agricultural Sciences, and Office of University Outreach.

Eventually, it will also include Penn State's colleges of Engineering and Arts and Architecture.

The direct impact on McKeesport and vicinity is hard to estimate. Unfortunately, the research center will probably not be located at the Greater Allegheny Campus in McKeesport; De Ciantis says Penn State is looking for office space closer to Downtown Pittsburgh.

But there will be opportunities for students at the Greater Allegheny Campus and Penn State's other campuses to get involved in research throughout the region, he says.

"There are tremendous opportunities around for students who want real-world experience, but sometimes it's difficult for them to get into the metro (Pittsburgh) area if they don't know who to approach," says De Ciantis, a Pittsburgh native who has worked for Penn State for 15 years and previously served as county extension director.

The university's intent is to better match needs in local communities with research being done at the University Park campus and the "regional" (Penn State calls them "Commonwealth") campuses.

Although Penn State has $140 million in assets in Allegheny County, De Ciantis says, people tend to think of the university as "that entity way out there" in State College.

(Even the mention of the "county extension office" is likely to mystify city dwellers, but as De Ciantis points out, the extension office's programs go far beyond answering agricultural questions. Through the Allegheny County extension office, residents have access to training in child care, economic development, and environmental health and safety.)

"We're trying to figure out how to better position ourselves," he says.

Besides the obvious, ongoing relationship between the Mon-Yough area and the Greater Allegheny Campus, which currently serves about 800 students, Penn State is already partnering with nearby community organizations.

Two years ago, Penn State helped Allegheny East MH/MR Center Inc. (now called Milestone) develop a hydroponic greenhouse in Elizabeth Township, near the Yough River bike trail.

The 3,840-square-foot greenhouse at "Yough River Trail Gardens" provides job training and vocational therapy for adults with mental health issues or disabilities. It's also growing produce year-round that's sold through two major food distributors.

And just yesterday, Penn State helped launch a new electricity co-generation plant. Exhaust from the propane heater used to keep the greenhouse warm will now generate electricity as well; any surplus electricity will be sold back to the power grid.

The 4.7-kW co-generation plant was funded through a $29,000 grant from the state's Energy Harvest program.

Other research projects are trying to identify uses for brownfields and vacant urban commercial and residential lots. In September, De Ciantis says, a group of students in Penn State's renowned landscape architecture program will begin a semester-long project with Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority to develop low-cost, sustainable ways to improve blighted neighborhoods in the city.

There are also efforts underway to examine the role that urban farming might play in Allegheny County --- converting vacant city land to produce food, and employing local residents.

"We're trying to identify needs and find resources with Penn State that can help address those challenges," De Ciantis says. "There's a whole bunch of stuff happening."