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title: Sept 2026 - Newsletter from the Department of Dairy & Food Science
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| View in browser                                                                       Sept 2026 Message from the Department Head Greetings from the SDSU Dairy and Food Science Department!     September was always one of my favorite months of the year when I was younger. I loved showing livestock and camping at the South Dakota State Fair, harvest season on the farm, and all the fall food! I still love September for all those reasons, as well as all the excitement of having new and returning students in our department, as well as many exciting fall events coming up! We are also very excited that we will have a new Davis Dairy Plant Manager, Samantha Forman, start in our department on September 21. More information on Samantha is in an article below. We ae also very excited about the Dairy Drive tailgating (1-5:30PM) and activities during the SDSU Football game (starts at 6PM) on September 19. Everyone is welcome to tour the Davis Dairy Plant and enjoy free SDSU ice cream to the east of the Davis Dairy Plant. Please also invite any prospective students to come to tour the Davis Dairy Plant on September 19 or anytime! We would love your help in reaching out to any potential students to tell them more about our 4 year programs and our new 2 year program (Dairy Technology) and all the great scholarships and careers that are available through degrees in our department. Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to visit more about our department.   Thank you for all your support and all the best,   Londa Nwadike, Ph.D. David A. Thompson Endowed Department Head & Professor Dairy Drive Football Game Dairy Drive Football Game - September 19, 2026 Join us for a chance to win a cooler! We would like to invite everyone to join us for tailgating on September 19th from 1pm-5:30pm for the Dairy Drive football game. The game starts at 6pm at the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. We have partnered up with multiple companies in the dairy industry once again to put together a chance to win a cooler  filled with goodies from the participating companies. To win the cooler, we will have a punch card to take between tailgating spots of Dairy and Food Science, Valley Queen, AMPI, Prairie Farms, and Bel Brands. Once a punch has been received from all of these companies you will be entered into a drawing for the cooler. The Dairy and Food Science tailgating spot will be by the Alfred Dairy Science Hall. We will be serving ice cream and providing Davis Dairy Plant tours. All other companies will be tailgating north of the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. We will also have a dairy calf to visit in that area. New Davis Dairy Plant Manager! We are pleased to announce that Samantha Forman has graciously accepted our offer to serve as the new Davis Dairy Plant Manager, and she will start on Monday, September 21. Samantha is a 2015 graduate of our department, graduating with a BS degree in Dairy Manufacturing. She worked for Davisco Foods/Agropur in LeSueur, MN as a production supervisor for two years and milk intake supervisor for seven years with a focus on logistics and supply chain management within the dairy industry. She then transferred to Agropur in Lake Norden, SD as a Transactional Data Analyst for the past two and a half years. She has been a member of the Minnesota Army National Guard for 15 ½ years and is currently a Sergeant First Class and Ammunition Section Leader out of Camp Ripley, MN. She has completed both the Basic and Advanced Leadership courses offered through the U.S. Army.   We thank Kaylee Sartell for doing a great job as interim Davis Dairy Plant manager. Starting September 21, Kaylee will work on special projects in the Davis Dairy Plant. Thank you to the search committee for this position, chaired by Howard Bonnemann and including Dr. Prafulla Salunke and Vaishali Poswal. Meet Our Jacks Our student Anna Johnson, Aberdeen native, is studying dairy production and agricultural science, gaining hands-on experience through a local dairy internship, serving as a dairy ambassador and competing on SDSU's nationally recognized Dairy Products Judging Team.   Hear how SDSU is helping Johnson turn her passion for agriculture into a future career. Recruitment Updates & Opportunities Share your story as an Alumnus or Industry Representative, inspire the next generation!  Alumni Highlight Form ~A message from Cheyenne Edmundson, SDSU DFS Recruiter   I've been attending local classrooms and the South Dakota State Fair with fun demonstrations and activities to connect young adults with the joy of applied sciences in dairy and food.  I've introduced both traditional teachers and homeschooling teachers to classroom resources and shared a list of alumni from our department to touch base with as guest speakers. We appreciate your support in speaking to prospective students about your career.  If students can see the career through the lens of an alum, they will be inspired to pursue it ("See it, be it").   Titan Machinery hosts immersive, hands-on summer youth camps that specifically rotate to various educational institutes to encourage students to major in Agriculture Engineering-related careers. Holding summer dairy and food science-related camps using a similar model would be a great way to promote the connection of our academic programs to your career roles long term. If there is interest in this, please reach out. We can start the conversation now, to aim to see camps or other recruitment opportunities come to fruit.    You're welcome to join our in-person, Alumni panel discussion on November 3rd from 3 to 5 PM in conjunction with the Alumni Association & Career Office. This will be recorded as well, featuring Sheryl Meshke, Jenna Kerkaert, and Keven Bucklin. Best, Cheyenne Edmundson Cheyenne.Edmundson@sdstate.edu Phone: 605-688-5482 Cell Phone: 605-254-7818 Recruitment Event Schedule - Consider Joining Us! Faculty Updates Dr. Srinivas Janaswamy recently had a journal article published. Check it out!   Inspired by Nature, SDSU Scientists Engineer Tiny 'Nitrogen Factories' That Could Help Future Cereal Crops   "BROOKINGS, S.D. — As fertilizer prices remain elevated, researchers at South Dakota State University are developing an innovative solution to corn's nitrogen supply problems by taking inspiration from an ancient Mexican variety and root nodules found on soybeans. In a new study, publi..." Read More Student Updates Intermountain Milk Processors Association (IMPA) Dairy Product Development Competition Congratulations to our SDSU dairy product development team, graduate students Gabi Bean, Priyamvada Thorakkattu, and Vaishali Poswal, for placing third at the 19th Annual Intermountain Milk Processors’ Association (IMPA) Dairy Product Development Competition in Sun Valley, Idaho. They were awarded $8,000 for their achievement. The team, advised by Dr. Prafulla Salunke, developed WheyVi, an innovative, refreshing, high-protein beverage designed to upcycle acid whey, a major co-product of greek yogurt and cottage cheese manufacturing.   WheyVi has greater than 90% dairy ingredients and delivers 10g of protein (20% DV, "Excellent Source of Protein") per serving with no artificial colors added across three distinct flavor profiles: Piña Colada, Cucumber Mint, and Juicy Raspberry. The competition challenged university student teams from top dairy science programs across the country to create original food products that feature dairy components to support the continued growth of the dairy industry. The final phase of the competition involved delivering a marketing poster display, a commercial packaging prototype, a technical PowerPoint presentation, and live product samples to a panel of dairy industry executives and processing leaders. Events & Calendar Calendar September 19: Dairy Drive Tailgating 1-5:30pm, Football Game @ 6pm September 26: SDSU Senior Day, 1:30-4:30pm - Oscar Larson Preforming Arts Center September 29-October 2: World Dairy Expo - Madison, WI October 7: CAFES Career Fair - Club 71, Brookings, SD Share & Subscribe We encourage sharing this newsletter with classmates and colleagues with ties to our department. Subscribe and stay in the loop on our upcoming events, opportunities, and updates!   View all previous newsletters here. If you would like to read the newsletters sent out previously to students those can be accessed here. Subscribe Department of Dairy and Food Science, Alfred Dairy Hall 136, Box 2104, Brookings, SD 57007 Unsubscribe Manage preferences |
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