Pomona : Utility Funds Poly Study

Cal Poly Pomona has received a $650,000 gift to study how restaurants can improve productivity while conserving energy. Southern California Edison Co. made the contribution to the university’s proposed James A. Collins Center for Hospitality Management, which will be built next year to provide education, research and consulting services for the hotel and restaurant industry.

Most of the gift will be spent on laboratories to test the energy efficiency of food service. The school’s hotel and restaurant management program, established in 1973, has 700 students and is the oldest and largest of its kind in California, a spokesman said.