Bob Roberts, associate professor of food science and director of the Ice Cream Short Course, said there have been recent advancements in ice cream related to the formulation for specific health effects, such as creating products that contain a certain amount of omega-3 fatty acids, which are healthy fats found primarily in fish oil.

"We were able to achieve a nutritionally significant amount of omega-3 fatty acids [in strawberry ice cream] that still tasted good," Roberts said.

Other advancements in ice cream pertaining to health include adding probiotics, which are microorganisms that influence nutritional health, to products and developing products that are low in fat.

Health is only one of the many topics that will be discussed in the weeklong Ice Cream Short Course, which has been offered by the university since 1892 and is being held in the Nittany Lion Inn ballroom.

"This course covers all aspects of the ice cream industry, including manufacturing, freezing and formulation," Roberts said. "The short course is aimed at people working in industrial ice cream manufacturing companies, but there are some [participants] who just want to know about ice cream or want to open a shop."

The class began Sunday and will end next Saturday with a banquet at 7 p.m.

Todd Wolfson, executive chef at Virginia Tech, said he is taking the Ice Cream Short Course because Penn State is the only school in the nation that offers such a class.

"We're getting ready to offer ice cream as part of our menu at our conference center, and I'm hoping to learn about flavoring, consistency of the product and packing," he said.

Those who want to learn about ice cream also have the opportunity to take one or both of two shorter courses that were recently developed.

Ice Cream 101: Introduction to Frozen Desserts will be offered for the second time Jan. 22 to 23.

Roberts said the introductory course on the basics of ice cream processing technology is aimed at entrepreneurs with less knowledge of ice cream manufacturing.

He said 75 people showed up for the course last year, and he expects a good turnout this year as well.

A new course, Business Management 101 for Ice Cream Retailers, was "put together in response to people who took Ice Cream 101 last year and wanted to learn about the business aspect" of the ice cream industry, Roberts said.

Debra Ellis, manager and senior conference planner for the College of Agricultural Sciences, helped develop the new course and said it will give participants an orientation to what issues are involved with starting a small ice cream business.

"What we were seeing was that there was a need to provide a less intensive course for people who weren't in the ice cream manufacturing business and just had an interest in learning about the product and how to produce it on a small scale," she said.

Roberts said that although people can take each course individually, most people are taking the combined set.

Business Management 101 will begin the evening of Jan. 23 and end at noon on Jan. 25. People can register for this class or Ice Cream 101 up until the day of the class. Both classes are open to anyone but have limited space, Roberts said.