South Dakota State University

NASA has narrowed the field to six in its lunar soil excavating contest, and a team of students from South Dakota State University is among the group left in the hunt for a $1 million top prize. Conceived in 2020, the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge tasked innovators with creating robotic systems that can navigate the rugged terrain of the Lunar South Pole, dig up its icy soil and transport it to another location, where, in theory, water could be extracted from the soil. There were two earlier design and prototype phases in which SDSU advanced. In the latest stage, SDSU was one of 15 finalists invited to give their prototypes a 15-day test.

When it comes to electrical engineering scholarship, the program at South Dakota State University could be considered the standard of the power grid. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has announced the 2023-24 recipients of the Power and Energy Society Scholarships. For the second year in a row, SDSU dominated. The nine current selections are one better than the mark the program set last year. The list includes four repeat winners and five newcomers.

Ellise Otheim, a first-year nursing student at South Dakota State University, is the recipient of a $5,000 Sanford Health Military and Veteran Scholarship. Otheim, a sophomore from Hartford, was surprised with a scholarship announcement during her Professional Nursing Concepts class on Nov. 13, as representatives from Sanford and SDSU stormed the Wagner Hall classroom with balloons and a giant check.

South Dakota State University juniors Joseph Cassady, clarinet, and Avery Retzer, soprano, will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 20, in the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center's Founders Recital Hall on the SDSU campus.

The South Dakota State University School of Design was selected this past spring to propose a master plan for a new community park in Chamberlain. After months of preparation, the final proposal was presented to and endorsed by community partners and the Chamberlain City Council this fall to begin the next step of development and implementation.

Andrew Ellis, a senior majoring in music education, will present his senior recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, in the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center's Founders Recital Hall on the South Dakota State University campus.

Professional sports, whether it be playing in or working for, is a goal for many high school and college students across the country. A pair of South Dakota State University students spent this past summer interning for professional sports teams.

The South Dakota State University Concert Choir will present its Scandinavian Northern Lights-themed concert this weekend with a performance celebrating the group's upcoming trip to Sweden and Norway.

The South Dakota State University aviation program hosted students from the Sioux Falls School District's Career and Technical Education Academy on a recent visit to the Brookings Regional Airport.

Nick Lange, a music education major at South Dakota State University, will present his junior recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, in the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center's Founders Recital Hall on the SDSU campus.

Haley Dahl, a senior majoring in music education, will present her senior recital at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22, in the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center's Founders Recital Hall on the South Dakota State University campus.

Two South Dakota State University School of Design seniors will display their Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis exhibition in the Ritz Gallery on campus for the next two weeks. The public exhibit, "Tangibly False," features the work of Cassidy Hunt and Matthew Scott, including printmaking, drawing, sculpture and other works on canvas. These works explore themes of life and existence and are on display from Oct. 16-27.

The Friday, Sept. 22, presentation of Puccini's "La Boheme" brings an internationally-recognized opera troupe to South Dakota State University. Designed to demystify the art form and present accomplished musicians both on stage and in the pit orchestra, the show will provide opportunities for 30 Jackrabbit students to perform in the world's most frequently presented opera.

The following students graduated after the spring 2023 semester at South Dakota State University. More than 1,400 students completed all requirements for a degree and/or certificate program, and those requirements have been verified by the appropriate college. Overall, students from 27 states and 20 nations graduated following the spring 2023 semester. More than 50 students received two or more degrees or certificates from a college.

South Dakota State University engineering students used down-to-earth knowledge to design an out-of-this-world lunar transport vehicle which won them a NASA-sponsored contest. The SDSU team was one of 15 teams selected as a finalist in NASA'S Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts - Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. Finalists were grouped in four categories. SDSU was one of four universities chosen as finalists in the Lunar Surface Transporter Vehicle category along with Maryland, Texas and Virginia Tech.

More than 3,000 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance over the spring 2023 semester at South Dakota State University by being named to the dean's list. To earn dean's list distinctions in SDSU's colleges, students must have completed a minimum of 12 credits and must have earned at least a 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale. Students with F, I, U, RI or RU grades are not eligible regardless of system term GPA attained. Note that this report includes courses that were taken at other South Dakota institutions this term. A minimum of 12 credits within the 100-699 course range must be taken. A student who passes pregeneral education courses may still qualify, if the student has 12 other credits that do fall within the 100-699 range. Overall, 3,043 students from 37 states and 20 foreign nations are on the list. More than 1,300 students received a 4.0 GPA, and those are indicated with an asterisk. Congratulations to these distinguished scholars on earning this academic achievement.

South Dakota State University has pulled out another national championship-this one in the field of quarter-scale tractors. While the football team grabbed a lot of attention with its first-ever Football Championship Series national title in January, the students on the quarter-scale tractor team brought home national honors for the second year in a row and third time in the past five years. They were competing in the International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition organized by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, which held the annual contest June 1-4 at the Expo Gardens Fairgrounds in Peoria, Illinois.

South Dakota State University held its annual Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Day April 20 in the University Student Union's Volstorff Ballroom. In addition to selecting top student performances, the university announced the recipients of the Schultz-Werth Awards and the Joseph F. Nelson Undergraduate Research Mentorships. URSCAD is organized by SDSU's Van D. and Barbara B. Fishback Honors College.

Five mechanical engineering students at South Dakota State University had their project selected for the finals of a NASA contest, meaning all three of the department's entries in three different NASA contests have advanced to the finals. "This honor again reflects the solid skills our students are gaining and the dedication of our students and faculty to pursue student success beyond the classroom walls," Yucheng Liu, head of the SDSU Department of Mechanical Engineering, said.

Engineering students at South Dakota State University pedaled their way to a third-place finish in the national e-Human Powered Vehicle Challenge at Liberty University, Forest, Virginia. The contest is sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and attracted 15 teams. The University of Central Florida won with 51.23 points while Missouri University of Science and Technology was second with 46.49 points. SDSU's 44.54 points edged the University of Wisconsin-Madison (44.50). Scoring is in two parts-design and endurance racing. SDSU finished first in design and ninth in racing.

Tackling a complicated bridge-building project with an inexperienced crew, a group of civil engineering students from South Dakota State University figured out how to span the Sweetwater River near San Diego and qualified for a national competition. The American Society of Civil Engineers began the student steel bridge competition in 1987, challenging student teams to develop a scale-model steel bridge to fit a given hypothetical environment. Each team must determine how to design and fabricate a bridge and then plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction at a competition. Bridges are then load-tested and weighed. SDSU students competed in the Mid-America Student Symposium at Kansas State University in Manhattan April 15, finishing third and qualifying for nationals in San Diego June 2-3.

For the second year in a row and the fourth time in school history, the best student chapter nationwide of the American Society of Civil Engineers belongs to South Dakota State University. "I was so ecstatic to hear that we had won again and a little bit surprised," said Rachel Zook, the 2022 president of the chapter and its 2021 vice president. Chapter adviser Zach Gutzmer, a lecturer in the civil engineering department at SDSU, made the announcement to the chapter's officer team April 17, but the formal presentation of the Ridgway Award won't be until this fall.

South Dakota State University's forensics team placed fourth in the Tier 2 Individual Events Team Sweepstakes and fifth in the Tier 2 Combined Debate and Individual Events Team Sweepstakes at the 2023 Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament in March at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

From Galileo to Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein, physics has been dominated by people who were set apart from their contemporaries. For South Dakota State University physics majors Gavin Baker and Jax Wysong, it is undergraduate research that has set them apart from their contemporaries. In March, they shared their undergraduate research with those gathered at the mass meeting of the American Physical Society in Las Vegas. It is an international gathering with more than 10,000 participants. Their research on Heusler alloys was undertaken at the direction of associate professor Parashu Kharel, who has National Science Foundation funding for the work.

SDSU doctoral student Andrew Simpson has been chosen as one of 22 students to present his poster at the Joint Statistical Meeting of the American Statistical Association in Toronto Aug. 5-10. It is the largest gathering of statisticians and data scientists in North America with nearly 7,000 attendees, including 1,000 students. His adviser, Semhar Michael, an associate professor of statistics at SDSU, said, "The student paper competition is a big part of this conference and, to my knowledge, this is the first time an SDSU student has been selected."

South Dakota State University pharmacy student Madisen "Maddi" Hansen, of Watertown, has received a prestigious national scholarship through the Kappa Epsilon pharmacy fraternity. Hansen is one of five recipients of the $1,000 Zada M. Cooper Scholarship for 2023. She is the 22nd SDSU pharmacy student to receive the award in its 63-year history, two in the first 31 years and 20 in the last 36 years. Hansen is the first SDSU recipient since Abigail Sirek in 2020.

The following students graduated after the summer and fall 2022 semesters at South Dakota State University. Nearly 1,000 students completed all requirements for a degree and/or certificate program, and those requirements have been verified by the appropriate college. Overall, students from 35 states and 28 nations graduated following the summer and fall 2022 semesters. Twenty students received two or more degrees or certificates from a college.

Men's hockey is back at South Dakota State University for the first time in four years, with students taking to the ice at Larson Ice Center for the past few months as an official club sport.

More often than not, the story about how someone figured out what they want to do-with their life or their career-is quite interesting. When a person is passionate about what they do, the "how I got to where I am" can even be inspiring.

The sports and recreation management program is relatively young, compared to other programs at SDSU, but has seen exponential growth in recent years. The undergraduate program has grown by 86% while the graduate program has grown by 367%.