Sean LaFond, Ph.D.

Sean LaFond of Verifolia discovered food science by accident while in a graduate program for chemistry. His love of food and cooking inspired him to devote himself to food science. He has a BA in chemistry from Albion college, a master’s degree in food science and human nutrition from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in food science and technology from the University of California Davis. After leaving academia he wanted to focus on creating delicious and innovative new products. His specialties are flavor formulation and sensory methodology, and has working expertise in a variety of adjacent fields such as data science, chemical analysis, and product development. He maintains a fully stocked R&D lab in Davis, California that is capable of doing product development, custom flavor formulation, and small-scale sensory testing. In his spare time he tinkers with launching his own brand of powdered cocktail syrups.