News at SDState

South Dakota State University associate professor Rachel Willand-Charnley received an endowment from Bill and Nancy Wadsworth earlier this year. The funding will help Willand-Charnley accelerate cancer research at SDState.

Researchers from South Dakota State University's Department of Biology and Microbiology and the BioSystems Networks and Transformative Research Center – Insights into Inflammation (BioSNTR-II) have identified a protein — ALIX — that can help boost cells' self-healing abilities.

South Dakota State University researcher Swas Kaushal is part of a new generation of scientists blending technology and agriculture — and his work is gaining global attention through two major travel awards.

For the fifth consecutive year, Yucheng Liu, head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at South Dakota State University, has been named to the Stanford University-Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists’ list. The compilation is based on the number of times a scientist’s papers are cited in another scientist’s papers. Liu’s writings have been cited a total of 1,966 times with 377 of them occurring in 2024. Liu, the Duane Sander Endowed Professor, has served as department head since 2021 and is a Distinguished Member of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Turner Marr, a mechanical engineering senior from Buffalo, Minnesota, wanted to become a doctor when he enrolled at South Dakota State University in fall 2022. That lasted all of one semester. The switch from biochemistry premed to mechanical engineering had nothing to do with the sight of blood or the thought of working on a cadaver. He simply wanted a major that required more math while allowing hands-on learning. He found that in mechanical engineering and in December 2024 was selected by the college as a Future Innovator of America.

This summer, Delaney Baumberger, a mechanical engineering graduate student at South Dakota State University, spent ten weeks working among some of the nation’s top aerospace scientists at the Air Force Research Lab in Dayton, Ohio. Baumberger and her adviser, associate professor Jeffrey Doom, collaborated with Air Force Research Lab researchers to run advanced computational fluid dynamics simulations for hypersonic scramjet engines, experimental engines that burn fuel at speeds above Mach 5. Their work explored how engine geometry affects combustion stability and performance at extreme speeds. .

South Dakota State University's Haarberg Drug, Disease and Delivery Research Center is spurring economic development as it progresses in finding new treatments for cancer and other diseases.

Nurses with bachelor’s degrees who are looking for additional paths for advancing their careers can find options in South Dakota State University’s College of Nursing.

Students, researchers and industry professionals from around the country gathered at South Dakota State University on Oct. 14 for the 2025 South Dakota Student Water Conference. The daylong event was designed to empower the next generation of water research professionals.

The South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and South Dakota State Foundation Seed Stocks Division have released a new wheat variety to seed producers. The new hard red winter line will be available for farmers to purchase for fall 2026 planting.