Charles Bamforth, the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Science and chair of UC Davis' Department of Food Science and Technology, will explain the science behind every mug of great beer during a Feb. 26 presentation on the Science of Beer Making at the New York Academy of Sciences.

Bamforth's 6 p.m. presentation, the third in the academy's five-part Science of Food Series, will be followed by a beer tasting.

Bamforth began his work in the brewing industry in 1978 and joined the UC Davis faculty in 1999. Before coming to UC Davis, he served as deputy director-general of Brewing Research International and research manager and quality assurance manager of Bass Brewers.

He serves as special professor in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham, England. He also is a fellow of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and a fellow of the Institute of Biology. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists and has written several books on beer and brewing.

UC Davis' Department of Food Science and Technology, which Bamforth chairs, is one of the leading food science programs in the nation and the only such program in the 10-campus University of California system. It also offers the only food science doctoral program in the state. Current research in the department is focused on improving the fundamental understanding of the nature of foods, the way that nutrients affect body chemistry, how we taste and smell food, and the physiology and method of attack of food-borne microorganisms.