The Experimental Cuisine Collective, an interdisciplinary group founded by chef Will Goldfarb and faculty members of New York University’s departments of chemistry and nutrition, food studies, and public health, is hosting a daylong symposium in celebration of its second anniversary on Monday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at NYU.

Admission to the symposium, which will take place at Lipton Hall (108 W. Third Street) is free, but the public is required to RSVP. To register, non-ECC members should visit the Anniversary Symposium page at www.experimentalcuisine.org.

Cuisine: From Science to Sensation is sponsored by NYU and WillPowder. It will include presentations by Harold McGee (author of On Food and Cooking, New York Times columnist), Nils Noren (vice president of culinary and pastry arts, The French Culinary Institute), Leslie Vosshall (Chemers Family Associate Professor, Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior at Rockefeller University), and Cesar Vega (food scientist, Mars Botanical, editor of The Kitchen as Laboratory). Mitchell Davis, vice-president of the James Beard Foundation and food writer, will moderate a discussion among all the participants.

Since launching in April 2007, the ECC has been meeting monthly, hosting speakers such as Hervé This, Marion Nestle, Dan Barber, Corby Kummer, Johnny Iuzzini, Dave Arnold, Andreas Viestad, Rose Levy Berenbaum, Michael Ruhlman, and scientists from Princeton, the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and the University of Maryland, among others. The group now comprises more than 870 members.