Scott Lafontaine

Currently Dr. Lafontaine is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas and Co-Director of the Center for Beverage Innovation. His research focuses on identifying the key chemical drivers of aroma, taste, and mouthfeel that define food and beverage quality, and understanding how factors such as raw material composition and production methods influence these attributes in value-added products like beer, wine, sake, and non-alcoholic beverages. At the University of Arkansas, his program aims to build a leading research and training hub in beverage development, advancing innovation, workforce training, and the creation of the next generation of beverage products.

In 2021, Scott was a Humboldt postdoctoral research fellow hosted by Dr.-Ing Nils Rettberg and the Special Analytics team at the Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei (VLB) e.V. in Berlin, Germany. During this fellowship he investigated novel ways to promote flavor stability in beer. In 2019, he served as a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Hildegarde Heymann’s laboratory at the University of California, Davis primarily working on determining factors that influence the preference of U.S. consumers towards non-alcoholic beer. In December 2018, he defended his Ph.D. in Food Science with Dr. Thomas Shellhammer at Oregon State University which was focused on determining quality metrics for aroma hops as well as ways to promote hop aroma quality in beer. He also holds an M.S in Chemistry from Oregon State University focused on environmental analytical chemistry as well as an M.S. in Biotechnology from Kean University.