The Cornell Sensory Testing Facility is located in the ground level of the portion of Stocking Hall erected in 1917. Our facility includes a participant testing room, kitchen, wet chemistry area and office/computer spaces. Participant Testing Area The participant testing area of 180 sq. ft. contains eight completely computerized testing booths for questionnaire presentaion and data collection. We use Compusense five v.4.6 as our data collection software. Compusense is a fine Canadian company with a great track record in this field. We're thrilled with their software!

In addition to our computerized testing booths, the room is climate and odor controlled, and is equipped with a MacBeth "Northern Daylight" lighting system. We also have red light for use when color effects of foods or materials are to be dampened. The room has six pass through windows to the adjacent test kitchen.

Alongside the participant testing room is a 120 sq. ft. small-panel discussion/training room. This is equipped with a large oval conference-style table and visual aids. Within the Department of Food Science, we have available larger conference areas and lots of audio and visual/video technology.

Kitchen

Our 240 sq. ft. kitchen contains all the basic amenities for the volume of sensory testing that we do. The server for the Compusense system is located in the kitchen as are the six pass through windows to the participant testing area. The kitchen is equipped with an oversized residential oven and rangetop, two refrigerators, two microwave ovens, a dishwasher, plenty of sink and counter space and a spring water system providing both cold and hot water Wet Chemistry and Office Space The adjoining wet chemistry and office spaces are located next to the participant testing and kitchen areas. Together they comprise almost 1200 sq. ft. The wet chemistry area contains everything a modern chemical laboratory needs to operate safely and efficiently. It also contains a large formica-covered (instead of that icky black slate) benchtop which makes it easier to work with foods.

Dr. Lawless has spent years amassing an extensive odor library containing nearly 300 distinct odorant compounds.

The office areas consists of work areas for a lab manager and eight graduate students and undergraduate workers and assistants. Our little computer network, including a world wide web, ftp and gopher server, extends to these areas as well.

Cornell University All of this fun stuff is located on the main campus of Cornell University in "sunny" Ithaca, New York. CU has a student population of about 18,000 and plenty of faculty and staff who are all frequently recruited in our research and contract work that involve the extensive use of human subjects.

Ithaca is a picturesque little city in the heart of the Finger Lakes district of Upstate New York. It was recently rated the most progressive small town in the U.S. by the Utne Reader magazine.