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Department of Dairy and Food Science

Feed the world – with science

Dairy is a huge industry that helps feed the world. And the science behind it helps employ a lot of SDState grads. All of the decisions that go into the products consumers pick up from their grocery aisle were meticulously made by professionals in the dairy and food science field. SDState's Dairy & Food Science Department has been an industry-leading program in the United States for more than a century. Starting with the founding of the Dakota Agricultural College in the 1880s, officially forming as a department in 1907 and more than doubling in enrollment since 1967, dairy science is a hallmark of SDState's culture–and a high-demand, high-earnings field, to boot.

Let's dive into what makes SDState's Dairy and Food Science Department a magnificent major choice for those in search of a lucrative career.

Fast Facts

Number of Students

48

Undergraduate

29

Graduate

Student/Faculty Ratio

9:1

Job Placement

100%

Scholarships Awarded

58

Recipients

$175K

Awarded

Department of Dairy and Food Science News

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Switchgrass field

SDSU researcher turning switchgrass into bioplastics

South Dakota State University researcher Srinivas Janaswamy has demonstrated how switchgrass can be utilized to create bioplastics.
Plastic pollution

Could spent coffee grounds provide an alternative to plastic packaging?

A new study from Srinivas Janaswamy has revealed how spent coffee grounds can be made into biodegradable films—material that could one day replace plastics.

Vikram Mistry retires after nearly 40-year career dedicated to dairy science, student success

For nearly 40 years, Vikram Mistry, professor emeritus and recently retired associate dean and director of academic programs for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at South Dakota State University, has dedicated his professional career to conducting research on dairy prod...