About Us
Our mission
To improve global life quality by inspiring sustainable multi-disciplinary food solutions.
The world’s greatest problems cannot be solved in a silo. They require collaboration and teamwork across multiple disciplines. The Ohio State University Office of Academic Affairs and Office of Research created the Food Innovation Center (FIC) in 2010 to encourage trans-institutional and interdisciplinary scholarship across campus to address issues and problems of global dimension. Since that time, the FIC has attracted more than 380 faculty members, staff and graduate students who share a common interest in food, health and sustainability.
Through the strategic use of university funding, the FIC developed a competitive, internal grant program to create and support multidisciplinary teams. Five years later, teams launched by the FIC are engaged in projects on food mapping, food insecurity, foods for health and much more.
Success is driven by a culture of excellence. FIC teams have combined scholarly output that includes more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and more than 80 professional presentations. Our initial $1.9 million dollar investment in faculty research has resulted in almost $9 million in extramural support coming back to the university.
In addition to supporting internal research projects, the FIC actively engages with an external audience. Through successful conferences and networking events, the FIC has convened experts from Ohio State and beyond on topics ranging from childhood obesity, translating the dietary guidelines into policy, and the future of food.
Today, FIC members come from all 15 colleges across the university. Visit our member profiles to explore the depth and breadth of the Center’s expertise.
