SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA – The Western Coatings Technology Center (WCTC) at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) is one step closer to reality, as ground was broken on a new $2.5 million facility. It will be named after Kenneth N. Edwards, CEO of Dunn-Edwards Paint, in recognition of his efforts in helping to fund the project.

The WCTC is designed to expand industry-sponsored research on campus while providing state-of-the-art facilities for students to learn and conduct real-world coatings and polymer-related research with faculty and industry mentors.

Although part of a state-funded center, the WCTC’s facilities and equipment must be funded entirely by private donations. “Ken has been tireless in his role to get the project funded,” said Phil Bailey, Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics.

The only such facility on the West Coast, the new WCTC’s modern research facilities will include a polymer synthesis laboratory, instrumental analysis center, project research laboratories and the Dunn-Edwards Coatings Formulation Laboratory, named in recognition of the leadership and generosity of both Kenneth Edwards and the Dunn-Edwards Corp.