Facilities

Chem-Space Facilities

Univ. of Pittsburgh- Applied Research Center_Front Gate

Chem-Space is located in the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center (U-PARC). The U-PARC facility, located 14 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, PA, was owned and operated by Gulf Oil Corporation as the Gulf Research & Development Company (GR & DC) from 1935 to 1985. GR & DC made notable accomplishments in petroleum exploration, production and processing, petroleum product development and testing, chemicals research and development and synthetic fuels research. The facility was widely regarded as having one of the most advanced auto testing, pilot plant and analytical laboratories in the world. Chevron Corporation's takeover of Gulf in 1984 made the state-of-the-art GR & DC research center redundant based on Chevron's like assets and the facility was donated to the University of Pittsburgh in 1986. Pittsburgh Applied Research Corporation (PARC) was formed to operate and manage the U-PARC site and operate the Automotive and Pilot Plant Services and other startup businesses ( http://www.parctech.com/history.htm). This secure facility, guarded 24 hours a day, provides a safe environment for technology development and contract research. Additionally, the offices are conveniently located just minutes from the PA turnpike and Rt. 28.

These facilities are ideal for the operation of small high tech businesses such as Chem-Space because it allows flexibility in terms of ebb-and-flow of space and ease of partitioning of customer projects in a secure and isolated environment. In addition, with over 300 companies in the facility, there are a wide variety of complementary resources for fabrication, design , and measurement in support of Chem-Space objectives.