Basil Dalaly

     Dr. Dalaly’s main research interest is in the field of biotechnology, particularly enzyme isolation,  

     purification, and immobilization for food industry.  In the ministry of Agriculture (Iraq), his objective

     was restructuring the research activities of the ministry and creating links with the colleges of

     agriculture.

Bruce Dickinson

     The focus of Dr. Dickinson’s research will be to explore how to encourage service organizations to

     implement a key stakeholder-focused process improvement action plan.  The research will facilitate

     integrating business and social science theories, concepts, and principles to create, maintain, and

     perpetuate a quality, purpose-focused culture to improve key stakeholder satisfaction in service

     organizations while maintaining mission fulfillment.

Elizabeth Droke

     Dr. Droke’s research focuses on the relations among nutrition (primarily phytochemicals, iron and

     zinc), immunity, and chronic inflammation.  She is and has been involved in several collaborative

     projects.  One of these projects (USDA-funded) is evaluating the ability of soy isoflavones to

     attenuate the negative impact of chronic inflammation on skeletal health and the cardiovascular

     system in young, female mice.  This line of research in the future will include the combined effects of

     obesity and chronic inflammation.  In another project, the relations among iron, zinc, lead, infection,

     cognition, and behavior were determined in rural low-income preschool children.  This project

     helped to address the need to find measures to accurately assess iron and zinc status in the

     presence of infection.

Lee Frantz

     Dr. Frantz’s areas of research interest include Human Resource Development, Use of Computer

     Based Training in Hospitality Industry, Hospitality Customer Service, Foodservice Sanitation,

     Safety, and Bio-Security.  In recent months, he has acquired a homeland security grant for video

     training for food security in the food service industry.

Kendra Kattelmann

     The focus of Dr. Kattelmann’s research is on the effects of the macronutrient status on the control

     of Type 2 Diabetes in the Lakota population and the promotion of healthful eating especially

     increasing fruit and vegetable intake for the prevention of weight gain.  She is currently involved with

     a multi-state project in the development of a web-based program to promote healthful eating and

     prevention of excessive weight gain in the 18-24 year old college student.  Other research projects

     include the development of culturally appropriate lessons for elementary aged children to promote

     healthful eating and physical activity in the prevention of weight gain.

Teresa Kemmer

     Dr. Kemmer is currently overseeing the Child Nutrition Assessment Training and Research project

     conducted in collaboration with the Honduran Ministry of Health, The San Antonio Military

     Pediatric Center, The Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine at the Uniformed

     ServicesUniversity of the Health Sciences, and Joint Task Force Bravo.

Padu Krishnan

     The focus of Dr. Krishnan’s research is in adding value to agricultural crops by finding new uses in

     food, health, and industrial applications.  His projects include the development of a new way to

     measure folic acid in food, production of selenium-enriched wheat for health applications,

     development of tasty soy based foods, and new food-grade corn distillers’ ingredients.  He has also

     worked on specialty oat oils with increased antioxidants, phenolic compounds in canola, and

     cholesterol-lowering beta glucans in oats.  He also provides technical assistance to entrepreneurs in

     the food industry.

Kurt Rosentrater

     Biorefining, Biofuels, & Bioproducts

     Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD)

     Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)

     Design of Unit Operations & Processes

     Economic Modeling of Processing Operations

     Food Processing & Technology

     Food Storage & Handling

     Grain, Feed, & Petfood Processing

     Grain Harvesting, Handling, & Storage

     Heat, Mass, & Momentum Transfer

     Hyper-Dimensional-Data Visualization

     Manufacturing Equipment & Systems

     Manufacturing Facility Design & Layout

     Physical & Nutritional Property Analysis

     Process Flow Development

     Process Modeling & Simulation

     Processing Equipment Design & Layout

     Statistical Process Control (SPC)

     Value-Added Byproduct Development

     Viscometry & Rheological Characterization

Igor Sergeev

     The purpose of Dr. Sergeev’s research program is the investigation of signal transduction pathways

     mediated by intracellular calcium and the steroid hormone vitamin D.  The major thesis of our

     studies is that calcium, as a key cellular messenger, underlies “non-genomic” mode of action of the

     vitamin D hormone.  We recently discovered the novel, calcium-mediated signaling pathway

     determining cell fate in health and disease and showed that this pathway can be activated by vitamin

     D compounds and certain phytochemicals.  In our research, we utilize biochemical, nutritional,

     cellular/molecular and proteomic experimental approaches, including high-resolution, real-time

     digital imaging of living cells with fluorescent molecular probes.  The Soy Componenets and Cell

     Death in Breast Cancer project will focus on analysis of health-promoting activity of soy

     phytochemicals.  The goal of this project is to elucidate the role of soy components in regulation of

     cell death in human mammary epithelial cells.  We expect to identify soy components, which allow

     the differential elimination of pre-cancer and cancer cells via apoptosis.  Understanding the soy

     phytochemical-induced mechanism of cell death will help development of new strategies for

     prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

Bonny Specker

     Dr. Bonny Specker has published extensively in the area of bone, calcium and vitamin D

     metabolism, with over 120 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.  She has had several NIH-

     funded research grants relating to calcium metabolism and bone, and is currently conducting a large

     NIH-funded study in eastern South Dakota.  This study (South Dakota Rural Bone Health Study) is

     designed to determine bone density and later bone loss in rural populations.

Matthew Vukovich

     Currently, Dr. Vukovich is the Director of the Applied Physiology Lab at South DakotaState

     University. Dr. Vukovich received his B.S. degree in Physical Education, emphasis Exercise

     Science, and his Master of Science degree in Physical Education, emphasis Exercise Science, from

     IowaStateUniversity in Ames, IA.  He then went on to earn his PhD from BallStateUniversity in

     1993 in Human Bioenergetics.  Following graduation from BallStateUniversity, Dr. Vukovich was

     awarded a Post-Doctorate Fellowship under the supervision of  Dr. John O. Holloszy, MD and

     Wendy Kohrt, PhD in the Department of Applied Physiology at the Washington University School

     of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.  Dr. Vukovich's research focuses on the interaction of nutrition and

     exercise on body composition, hormones, and Muscle-Bone Relationships.

C.Y. Wang

     Chemistry, Analysis and health benefits of phytochemicals

     Processing and chemistry of cereal and oilseed components: proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids

     Processing and utilization of corn and soybeans

     Instrumental analysis of food components