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 products to improve their quality, nutritional value and processing methods, and educating young minds preparing to enter the dairy production, dairy manufacturing and food science industries.

Growing up in India and Kenya, where he completed his primary and secondary schooling, Mistry’s father was a dairy nutritionist, which sparked his interest in dairy science from a young age. That interest led him to attend college at Gujarat Agricultural University in Gujarat, India, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in dairy technology. After earning his undergraduate degree, Mistry came to the United States to attend graduate school at Cornell University, where he pursued both his master’s degree and Ph.D. in food and dairy science.

While working toward his graduate degrees at Cornell under the mentorship of professor Frank Kosiowski, Mistry got his start in academia by working as a research and teaching assistant and, upon completing his doctoral degree, worked as a post-doctorate associate there before coming to SDSU in October 1986.

“The idea of being part of a department that focused specifically on dairy science was very attractive to me, as that was my area of academic training,” Mistry said.

Mistry started his SDSU career as an assistant professor in the dairy science department, now known as the Department of Dairy and Food Science, became an associate professor in 1991 and earned his tenure status in 1993 before being promoted to professor in 1996. In 2002, he was appointed as the head of the department and was later named the David A. Thompson Endowed Department Head and Professor of Dairy and Food Science in 2019, as the first person to hold an endowed department head position at SDSU.

He was appointed to serve as the interim associate dean for the college in 2020 until June 2022, when he became the permanent associate dean and director of academic programs, a role in which he served until his retirement in July 2023.

Throughout his career, Mistry has made significant contributions to dairy science through research, teaching and mentoring numerous undergraduate and graduate students. Meanwhile, he published over 60 peer reviewed papers in reputable journals, 140 abstracts of papers presented at scientific meetings, contributed to invited presentations and book chapters, co-authored one book and received two patents.

After an impactful 36 years and nine months at SDSU, Mistry now holds the professor emeritus designation—a lifetime title honoring a retired faculty or academic administrative staff member who has demonstrated a distinguished professional career and made significant contributions to the university.

“Dr. Mistry is to be congratulated on his highly successful career at South Dakota State University,” said Joseph Cassady, South Dakota Corn Endowed Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. “His dedicated efforts will impact students for decades to come.”

During his almost 20 years as department head, Mistry led the efforts of raising $9.5 million for the construction of the Davis Dairy Plant as well as the renovation of the dairy-microbiology building, later renamed to the Alfred Dairy Science Hall, on campus and the renovation of the Dairy Research and Training Facility. Other contributions and notable achievements include increasing undergraduate student enrollment in the Department of Dairy and Food Science by 140% and scholarships by 275%.

“Dr. Mistry nurtured a scholarship program that has grown to the point where we have more scholarships than students, so many of them receive more than one,” said David Thompson, 1964 dairy science alum and donor of the David A. Thompson Endowed Department Head position.

Among these is an endowed scholarship sponsored by an anonymous donor in honor of Mistry that is currently providing $2,200 each year to a dairy and food science student.

"I am very humbled to be honored in this way and am thankful to the anonymous donor for supporting our students,” Mistry said.

As associate dean, he oversaw all aspects of curriculum, career development, scholarships, recruitment and professional development activities of the approximately 1,800 undergraduate students across 20-plus majors and six departments in the college.

Mistry’s passion for continued improvement has never gone unnoticed—during his time at SDSU, it was important to him to work and foster positive partnerships with key state and industry leaders to facilitate growth of the dairy industry across South Dakota.

“He had such a positive effect on everyone in the industry and the industry gave back to help build the Davis Dairy Plant and Alfred Dairy Science Hall,” Thompson said. “His previous students still reach out to him long after they’ve graduated to discuss job offers and get his recommendations on new SDSU students to hire. He will be missed.”

Mistry says the friendships he has developed and his ability to be integrated with the dairy industry, from farm to table, and to become acquainted with so many people who have made a difference to the industry and the public, has been most rewarding about his time at SDSU.

Similarly, his passion for students and helping them grow into prepared young professionals was evident through his dedication to excellence and developing personal relationships with every student who crossed his path.

“Dr. Mistry had a huge impact on my career path,” said Joey Otta, 2023 dairy manufacturing graduate and current production supervisor trainee at Saputo Inc. in Sulphur Springs, Texas. “He called me personally before I graduated high school to confirm my major and get to know me, which made me feel so welcomed. The first day of class, he wrote all 22 students’ names on the whiteboard and went around the room introducing every one of us to the class. He knew our hometowns, the sports we played, activities we were in and any alumni in our families that attended SDSU for dairy or food science.”

Like Otta, it is very common for other students to have similar experiences with Mistry and share comments about the impact he had on them during and after their time at SDSU.

“He was eager to help us himself, or find someone to help us, with any questions or concerns we had,” Otta said. “Along with that, Dr. Mistry is the best listener I know. When you talk to him, he makes you feel like you’re the most important person in the world—in my eyes, he is irreplaceable.”

Just as important as teaching was to Mistry, he spent many years of his career conducting research on low-fat and full-fat cheddar cheese, the development of high protein powder and its applications, applications of membrane technology in cheese manufacture, bifidobacteria in dairy products, microstructure of products, chemical analysis of milk and milk products and process cheese technology.

In total, he advised and mentored 18 graduate students and two postdoctoral associates throughout his years in the Department of Dairy and Food Science.

“Dr. Mistry was able to see my potential and encouraged me to accomplish things that I had no idea I was capable of doing,” said Lloyd Metzger, 1992 dairy manufacturing alum, former Alfred Dairy Science Chair at SDSU and current vice president of quality and technology at Valley Queen Cheese.

As Metzger’s undergraduate and graduate adviser, and later as his colleague, Mistry and Metzger worked on numerous research projects together over the years.

“He has the unique ability to ask thought-provoking questions that caused me to search for answers and encouraged independent learning,” Metzger said. “This mentoring was instrumental in developing my problem-solving skills and built a foundation for future success. He encouraged me to attend Cornell University for my doctorate and was the one to encourage me to apply for the Alfred Chair in Dairy Science position at SDSU in 2007.”

Mistry’s awards and professional honors include the 1995 Research Award of the SDSU Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, 1996 Research Award of the SDSU Chapter of Sigma Xi, 2003 F.O. Butler Foundation Faculty Award for Excellence in Research at SDSU, 2004 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Kraft Foods Teaching Award in Dairy Science, 2004 ADSA International Dairy Foods Association Award for Dairy Processing Research, 2011 Dr. Harold and Barbara Bailey Award for Excellence in Academic Department Leadership at SDSU, 2012 South Dakota Dairy Producers Friend of the Dairy Industry Award and was a 2023 Minnesota FFA Honorary State Degree recipient. Additionally, he served as a reviewer for the Journal of Dairy Science, International Dairy Journal and Le Lait, the French Journal of Dairy Science and Technology.

His professional memberships include the American Dairy Science Association, Institute of Food Technologists and the National Dairy Shrine.

When asked if he could sum up his career at SDSU in one word, Mistry’s answer was “inspiring.”

“The Department of Dairy and Food Science at SDSU gave me an opportunity to grow in my area of expertise in dairy science,” he explained. “The invitation to serve as associate dean for academic programs provided me an opportunity to serve and understand agriculture and natural resources as a whole. These experiences also gave me the opportunity to observe human potential in the form of student development from when they started as freshmen and now as they are deep into their careers leading in their chosen fields. This power of human potential and impactful industry has been truly inspiring.”

As he begins his retirement, Mistry says he is looking forward to enjoying the family side of life, traveling and watching the developing careers of the students with whom he had the privilege of becoming acquainted.

“I am very grateful to SDSU for providing me the opportunity to grow professionally and personally, while being able to contribute to the dairy industry and the professional development of others,” Mistry said. “I am extremely thankful to my colleagues, mentors and students who helped make my time at SDSU so rewarding and meaningful.”