2023 December Board Book

Attracting New Workforce

2023 Internships To date, a total of 15 interns to date have worked on CDIC’s internships. Projects range from literature reviews, product development, packaging testing to an inventory of artificial intelligence tools for the dairy processing sector. CDIC was also actively involved with several California processors seeking to hire interns from partner academic institutions, arranging meetings with faculty, food science clubs and individual faculty. CDIC will continue to recruit interns and place them with California processors to work on innovation projects.

Strengthening Academic Capacity

Phase IV PCC Funding: The Pacific Coast Coalition, hosted by Fresno State received $1.8 million in Phase IV funding from the USDA’s Dairy Business Innovation Initiative.

CDIC external funding CDIC participated in DMI ’ s Center Directors monthly meetings and reported to staff on the funding provided to CDIC for 2023 ($200,000). CDIC collaborated with the Business Development Team for a $40,000 proposal to DMI to assist with entrepreneurship programs at Fresno State and CalPoly San Luis Obispo. External funding received in 2023 totaled $384,188.