The Iowa Board of Regents will discuss two opportunities to grow Iowa State’s research capabilities in Wednesday’s regular meeting.

Proposals for a first-of-its-kind wine and grape research institute and a new facility for the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering will be under evaluation in the meeting.

Iowa State’s Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute would help support the state’s fast growing wine industry through research of northern-adapted grapes and new ways of processing those grapes into wine.

“This is really a response to the industry that is growing exponentially in Iowa, in terms of both vineyards and in terms of [wine makers],” said Gerald Miller, associate dean of extension programs for the College of Agriculture. “If you go back six or seven years, there were only a few wineries in Iowa, and today there are 67 licensed wineries in the state.”

Approval from the Board of Regents during its meeting Wednesday at the University of Northern Iowa would move to formally establishing the ISU institute. Miller said research has been ongoing at the university during the past two years.

The projected costs of the institute would total more than $760,000 during the next three years, but create “no new financial obligations to the general fund,” according to the Board of Regents agenda.

Funding would come from the Iowa Grape and Wine Development Commission, Miller said. According to Wednesday’s Board of Regents agenda, additional funds for the institute would be obtained through ISU Extension, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and private donations.

“As we continue to grow we could be much more active [in research] and some classroom instruction,” Miller said. “But we’re not there yet on the instruction side. We just don’t have the resources.”

The board will also consider a proposal Wednesday for Iowa State to begin planning a new facility to house the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

Sheila Doyle, a Board of Regents policy and operations analyst, said the facility would cost more than $63 million – $51.3 million from either state appropriations or academic building revenue bonds and $12 million in private gifts.

Gary Steinke, Board of Regents executive director, said the proposed facility is not in connection with a possible proposal to build a $500 million biosciences research institute in conjunction with BP Amoco PLC. The oil giant plans to construct the public research institute next to a university, and will invite fewer than 12 institutions to submit proposals.