Back in my day we called large buildings full of students researching beer a house party, but Anheuser-Busch InBev is making things official with a new data analytics center devoted to all things beer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. There, students working the Bud Lab will be able to focus on beery projects using data analytics, data research and innovation.

It makes sense — after all, the category of innovation could be right up the average college drinker’s alley, if some of the beer-hat-funnels I’ve seen on college campuses are anything to go by.

This will also be a way to attract new talent — because what’s more attractive to a college student than the ardent devotion to studying beer?

“Our collaboration with the University of Illinois provides a tremendous opportunity to work with the best and brightest in the field,” A-B InBev’s Chief People and Technology Officer Claudio Garcia said in a statement, via STLToday.com.

There are plenty of opportunities for students to earn credit elsewhere at the university’s research park — including 400 student interns already working for companies like Yahoo and Dow Chemical — but we’re willing to bet working on beer will provide quite the draw. Because it’s beer.

A-B InBev opening new ‘Bud Lab’ at University of Illinois [STLToday.com]

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