A University professor is helping food science students prepare for the real world by having them brew beer in class.
Subramaniam Sathivel teaches NSF 4075, a food preservation course in which students learn the science behind fermentation methods, including brewing craft beer.
Students also learn how to make ice cream, yogurt, milk powder and other fermented snack products.
Sathivel said he tries to make the class as fun as possible, integrating theory with application. By enabling students to act out classroom lectures first-hand, they retain information more efficiently than they would just studying the material, he said.
“I want my students to learn hands-on,” Sathivel said. “It’s a key, because the class should also be fun. In the morning, I’m teaching theories, and in the evening, [students] are doing it.”
Though Sathivel has taught at the University for nine years, he’s only been teaching the brewing lab for three. Primarily upper-level students and graduate students are enrolled in the course.
“The demand for food science and technology graduates is continuous. It doesn’t go [away], because we all need food,” Sathivel said.
Food science senior Ian Moppert said in class, students learn about the industrial processes of food preservation, then the scaled-down version of what they can do. Prior to participating in the lab, Moppert realized he wanted to become a brewmaster, so Sathivel’s class was a helpful experience.

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Jake Bonin

Subramaniam Sathivel, professor of food and bioprocess engineering, explains chemical properties of brewed beer on Oct. 14, 2016 at the LSU Food Processing and Engineering Lab.