Estée Lauder plans to open a research laboratory and office at Farmingdale State College in the spring, creating more than 30 jobs and funding for student scholarships, college and company officials told Newsday.
The cosmetics giant has signed a five-year agreement with the college to rent 40,000 square feet in the Broad Hollow Bioscience Park at the campus on Route 110. The pact will bring $1.75 million to the college during the period, a portion of which will go toward scholarships for students in the college’s Honors Program, the officials said.
The Estée Lauder Cos. has committed to involving Farmingdale State students and faculty in the research that will be conducted in the campus lab. The company also will consider alumni for jobs and offer student internships.
“Our collaborations with universities around the world help us stay on the cutting edge and advance our commitment to scientific excellence and delivering the highest quality, breakthrough prestige beauty products to consumers,” said Lisa Napolione, senior vice president of global research and development at Estée Lauder, which is based in Manhattan.
Besides the 31 new scientist and engineering jobs, Lauder will rotate “select teams of employees to the new space,” with between 70 and 80 people working there at any given time, company spokeswoman Alyssa Kressel said.
Estée Lauder first approached Farmingdale State three years ago about using vacant space in the bioscience park, which is two miles west of the company’s factory, warehouse, labs and offices on Pinelawn Road in Melville, according to college president John Nader.
The 102,500-square-foot bioscience park has been home to a handful of small technology companies since 2013, when anchor tenant OSI Pharmaceuticals moved to Illinois. The state-constructed facility opened in 2000 and is tied to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Estée Lauder will be using some of the former OSI space, Nader said.
“This is a huge step forward… A building that had been vacant for several years is now going to be largely occupied by a major multinational corporation that has a big footprint on Long Island,” he said. “This will raise the profile of the bioscience park as well as the college and give opportunities for students to work with Estée Lauder.”
Nader and others credited Empire State Development, the state’s primary business-aid agency, with helping the park after OSI’s departure and providing tax breaks to Estée Lauder.
Lauder came to Melville more than 50 years ago and now employs 2,500 people in Suffolk County. In 2018, it announced a $14.5 million expansion project for an engineering center at 65 Maxess Rd.
While the Farmingdale State agreement ends in five years, the company spokeswoman said Lauder “looks forward to continuing its relationship with the college beyond the agreement.”
She said the new lab’s research will focus on skincare, makeup and perfume as well as product formulas.
Estée Lauder already employs some Farmingdale State alums in its labs.
Associate scientist Tara Sooknauth, who graduated in 2015, said she is “incredibly excited and proud to see this partnership come to fruition” between the company and the college.
She said her degree in science, technology and society “has provided me with the opportunity, knowledge and skills to succeed as a woman in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] and in my career.”
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
