2023 September 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.

Strengthening Academic Capacity

CDIC external funding CDIC received $132,000 in sub-awards from the Pacific Coast Coalition for programs and projects implemented in 2022-2023. In addition, CDIC collaborated with Fresno State for the Phase IV DBII proposal ($1.8 million total), and prepared an application for a sub-award from the Pacific Coast Coalition for a total of $50,000 (application pending). The funding would start October 1, 2023, for one year, and would cover the development of technical and applications manuals for dairy processors. 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.