A trip to East Lansing, Michigan occurred for eleven members the Design Team to tour the Michigan State University (MSU) Meat Science Laboratory.  Dr. Al Booren spent the day with our group giving us sound advice on “do’s” and “don’ts”, as well as his experiences with leading the MSU meat lab design. Extensive touring of the facility provided the Design team with a valuable baseline about well-designed University Meat Science Laboratories and many ideas we’ve explored in the UW Meat Laboratory design. An understanding of how to incorporate Teaching, Research, and Extension functions under 1 roof  while designing the most advanced & state-of-the-art facility were the critical goals of this trip.