The Rutgers University Board of Governors has awarded a construction contract to build a 79,711 square-foot facility dedicated to fighting childhood obesity and associated adult diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
The Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health has existed in temporary quarters on the Cook Campus since 2010. Construction will begin this year and be completed in 2015, according to Peter Gillies, the institute’s founding director.
The idea behind the institute is to create and physical space where research, teaching and outreach to the community can take place.
“We want to bring together scholars who will pursue interdisciplinary research; policymakers who will apply that research to real-world problems associated with food and health; and parents, their children, as well as Rutgers students whose lives can benefit from wellness programs, health education and activities,” said Robert M. Goodman, executive dean of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, of which the institute is a part.
The Board of Governors has awarded the contract to the Joseph A. Natoli Construction Co. of Pine Brook, N.J. The company has worked on several Rutgers projects in the past.
