Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant has revealed the launch of an undergraduate beer-brewing program "fermentation science" in 2015.
Ian Davison, dean of the College of Science and Technology at the Mount Pleasant school, said that in 2013 Michigan was ranked fifth in the nation in number of breweries, behind California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, the Huffington Post reported.
The university, which collaborating with the Mountain Town Brewing Co. and Hunter's Ale House in developing the program, bills its undergraduate program as the first in the state to provide "hands-on education focused on craft beer."
Program director Cordell DeMattei said that the program, which will include classroom and lab work in biochemistry, chemistry and microbiology, as well as a 200-hour internship in a "production-scale facility," will fill a need in the state and across the region for students to learn the science and technology underlying brewing.