Häagen-Dazs announced last week it will give Penn State $150,000 to further its honeybee research, said Diana Cox-Foster, professor of entomology.

Penn State has 10 people interested in the research, including faculty from the entomology and horticulture departments, Cox-Foster said.

Last year, large commercial migratory beekeepers reported losses of 50 to 90 percent of their colonies, and non-migratory beekeepers reported losses as well, according to The Daily Collegian archives.

With its new funds, Penn State will work to better understand Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), Cox-Foster said. In March, a Pennsylvania beekeeper discovered CCD was behind the bee population loss, according to archives.

Häagen-Dazs chose Penn State to conduct its research because the university is recognized as one of the leaders in trying to understand and prevent CCD, said Diane McIntyre, senior public relations manager for Häagen-Dazs.

"We are one of the major contributors in understanding bee health," Cox-Foster said.

Robert Berghage, associate professor of horticulture and a member of the Ice Cream Bee Board created by Häagen-Dazs, has handed out seed packets to promote planting flowers that are best for the honeybees, McIntyre said.

Berghage said his department is working with Penn State's Master Gardener program, which Cox-Foster said teaches people to grow more "pollinator-friendly" plants.

"As a part of the gift, we're developing educational materials," he said, adding that the program would be expanded through training and public education.

Bees do not always have enough food sources, with few flowers and weeds available on many lawns, Cox-Foster said.

She said all types of pollinators, including butterflies and bats, may have decreased populations, but the effects on honeybees are more noticeable because of their status as the "livestock of the insect world."

Out of the 60 flavors Häagen-Dazs makes, 28 of them, or 40 percent, rely on the honeybee population, McIntyre said. If the population problem were to continue to decline, and Häagen-Dazs was unable to source enough for production, the company would have to look at its flavor lineup and make some changes, McIntyre said.

The funding from Häagen-Dazs will help provide two pieces of laboratory equipment, create graduate and undergraduate opportunities and further efforts, such as the Master Gardener program, to inform the public, Cox-Foster said.

Häagen-Dazs has established a full program on its own to make consumers aware of the population problem, McIntyre said.

A new flavor, Vanilla Honeybee, is currently hitting stores, but the contributions are not tied to the sales of the flavor, McIntyre said.

Brittany Harris, president of Eco-Action, called the donation a "great thing," but she did not think Eco-Action would be involved in spreading awareness of the cause because it does not fall under the organization's interests.