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Counselors who are specially trained to provide adjustment services to people with disability help their clients find gainful employment.

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Energy generated by solar panels and wind turbines interfaces to the electricity grid using power electronic converters—but how will these converter-based and traditional-based control systems interact to ensure voltage and frequency stability?

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Delivering palliative care to rural, frontier areas is difficult, but the lack of infrastructure makes developing programs for three Northern Plains Indian tribes even more challenging.

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To address the shortage of health-care professionals in rural and underserved areas, nurse-researchers are helping rural clinics more fully utilize registered nurses in primary care and have expanded the South Dakota State University nursing curriculum to better prepare students to do just that.

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Fungicides can help prevent the lodging and yield loss that stem canker causes, but timing is crucial. A new disease-forecasting model that predicts stem canker risk can help.

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Soybean diseases caused by various species of Diaporthe pathogens are on the rise and scientists are identifying the pathogens behind this increase.

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An increased number of bat sightings in the fall coincide with young bat being encouraged to leave the nest and fend for themselves.

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Encouraging more high school students to pursue careers in agriculture—that’s the idea behind USDA iLEARN professional development workshops for science and ag teachers.

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Scientists and consumers recognize the cholesterol-lowering power of oats, but what few know is that most of the oats American milling companies use comes from Canada. To increase oats production in the Midwest, researchers are developing methods to speed up selection of breeding material to improve the nutritional and milling qualities of new oat varieties—that includes developing ways to increase beta-glucan.

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Setting and achieving goals related to income and education may improve the overall health of Native Americans--that’s the premise behind a new research project, We RISE—raising income, supporting education—targeting young mothers on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in north central South Dakota. Health disparities research typically controls for socioeconomic status in analyses, but this study looks changing those socioeconomic variables.

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Jumping up a 2-foot waterfall is an impossible task for small fish like minnows and shiners. Such an obstacle can inhibit their ability to feed and spawn upstream. But state and federal wildlife agencies may soon be able to install fish ladders on the downside side of culverts to prevent this from happening.

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Soybean roots are under attack from two culprits, a parasitic round worm called the soybean cyst nematode, feeds on the roots, and a fungal disease called sudden death syndrome, which inhibits root growth. Soybean fields affected by both feel the greatest impact on yields. Planting resistant varieties and rotating crops are essential.

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When it comes to reducing the number of walleye, anglers take a back seat to Mother Nature. That’s the one of the insights on harvest dynamics emerging from a research project to assess movement, mortality and the impact of anglers on walleye populations along the Missouri River from the Oahe Dam near Pierre, South Dakota, north to the Garrison Dam near Riverdale, North Dakota.

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Resistance, stability and flexibility training can improve balance and other functional movements for people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis—and behavior therapy may further improve their quality of life. That’s the premise of a study that builds on previous work suggesting that resistance and flexibility training improved balance and symmetry, which is of particular concern for those experiencing leg weakness.

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Plants share their carbohydrates with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that colonize their roots and, in exchange, these fungi provide their hosts with nitrogen and phosphorous. By exploiting this relationship, scientists may be able to increase the biomass production of bioenergy crops and the yield of food crops and to reduce the required fertilizer inputs. This could improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural production systems according to professor Heike Bücking of South Dakota State University.

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Researchers have found antibodies to the newly discovered influenza D virus in pigs, cattle, horses, goats and sheep, but not poultry. South Dakota State University doctoral student Chithra Sreenivasan has proven that the guinea pig can be used as an animal model and is developing a way to study the virus in living cells—trachea and lung epithelial cells from swine and cattle.

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An economic analysis of data gathered from survey respondents who bought South Dakota hunting licenses showed that more than $37.5 million was generated through those who hunted on land set aside through Conservation Reserve Program funding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency research shows the economic contribution, impacts and benefits from hunting that occurs on CRP lands and calculates the effect of a 50 percent reduction in CRP acres.

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“Breeding is a numbers game—the more combinations we test, the more likely we are to identify a superior plant,” said winter wheat breeder Sunish Sehgal. He develops more than 500 new genetic combinations each year to increase winter hardiness, yield and disease and drought resistance in South Dakota wheat varieties.

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“If you live in flammable countryside, you’ve got to work with fire. You can’t make it go away,” according to professor Mark Cochrane, a wildfire expert and senior scientist at the Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence. That means moving from the notion that fires are unnatural and toward a managed approach that involves reintegrating fire as a vital landscape process and building communities that are resilient to fire.

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Changing crop prices was the No. 1 factor that farmers in the Prairie Pothole region of eastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota considered when deciding whether or not to convert grassland to cropland. Of the 1,026 producers who responded to the 2015 Farmland Decision Survey, 40 percent had converted some native or tame grassland to cropland in the last 10 years.

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Making milk powder seems simple, but it’s not. Creamer must dissolve very quickly in hot coffee, but powder density is critical for infant formula. Dairy scientists from South Dakota State University and chemical engineers from Monash University in Australia are using a single-droplet spray dryer and computation fluid dynamics modeling to determine the drying parameters needed to produce powders with those specific properties.

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A newly discovered insect species in prairie cordgrass may explain why increasing seed production has been so difficult, according to South Dakota State University entomologist Paul J. Johnson, a professor in the plant science department. The larvae feed on the developing seed within the plant. This is part of U.S. Department of Agriculture supported research to develop native grasses as a source of biobased transportation fuels.

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Roasted vegetables, fruit salads and spinach smoothies can form the basis for a healthy meal and provide a chance to connect as a family. These are insights that 9- and 10-year-olds and their caregivers in South Dakota gained through iCook, a multi-state U.S. Department of Agricultural project to increase culinary skills, family mealtime and physical activity as a means of preventing childhood obesity.

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Three Lakota elders are discussing advanced care planning and wills with their peers on Pine Ridge and other South Dakota reservations through an outreach project done in collaboration with a South Dakota State University nurse-researcher. The group developed a Lakota-specific advanced directive brochure and received training to be advance directive coaches. What they’ve done could impact Native American nationwide.

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“Diversity and inclusion are not just about ethnicity,” said assistant education professor Christine Nganga, citing gender, abilities and disabilities, social and economic class and religion in addition to race. “It’s the interplay of all these markers and how to cater to students’ diverse needs in the classroom.” She has quadrupled the enrollment in the ESL certification program at South Dakota State University and emphasizes social justice, equity and inclusion in her scholarly work.

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A novel magnetic semiconductor material that is an alloy of cobalt, iron, chromium and aluminum in which part of the aluminum was replaced with silicon may help reduce the power needed to store data in the computer memory. Researchers from the South Dakota State University Physics Materials and Nano-Science Lab are collaborating with the nano-magnetic group at the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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Sparking interest in engineering among Native American youngsters—that’s the goal of a the National Science Foundations’ Pre-Engineering Education Collaborative, but as those involved will tell you, it’s a tough task. Two South Dakota State University researchers decided to find out why college-age Native American students opted for careers in social sciences and nursing rather than engineering.

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Rehabilitation counselors can help clients with physical or mental disabilities—or both, as is often the case—find employment and live independently, according to South Dakota State University professor Alan Davis. October is National Disability Employment Awareness month.

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A low-cost method of removing phosphates from tile drainage water developed at South Dakota State University may help protect lakes and streams. Assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Guanghui Hua is using steel byproducts to trap phosphates in simulated tile drainage water. He collaborates with assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and SDSU Extension water management engineer Chris Hay, who has been testing woodchip bioreactors since 2011. Hay envisions installing a steel-containing cartridge as an add-on to nitrate-capturing bioreactors.

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Wheat farmers in Kazakhstan lose anywhere from from 10 percent to as much as 50 percent of their wheat crop due to tan spot and Septoria leaf blotch. Research scientist Zagipa Sapakhova of the Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology will screen new wheat varieties to improve resistance to these common fungal diseases, thanks to techniques she learned at South Dakota State University.

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Patients suffering from aneurysms that extend from their chest into their groin may be helped by a new stent graft, thanks to collaboration between Sanford Health and South Dakota State University. Mechanical engineering associate professor Stephen Gent’s fluid flow modeling “helped validate that the configuration is delivering more well developed blood flow with the design,” according to Sanford Health vascular surgeon Pat Kelly.

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The French have spent centuries developing grapes with the unique flavor and character of Burgundy region wines. Cold-climate grape producers are counting on science to help shorten that process. Plant scientists Anne Fennell and Rhoda Burrows from South Dakota State University are part of the research team helping cold-climate grape growers carve a niche in the American wine industry through two U.S Department of Agriculture projects.

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A survey of 324 multiunit owners/operators in South Dakota showed that adopting those policies reduced maintenance costs while improving safety. The research was a collaborative project involving nursing researchers at South Dakota State University and the South Dakota Department of Health. State tobacco control officials have developed materials to help more apartment owners institute voluntary smoke-free policies.

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A mosquito in western South Dakota has tested positive for West Nile virus—the next step is transmission to humans. Two South Dakota State University researchers will help mosquito control officials use mosquito surveillance and environmental data to target West Nile virus through a three-year NASA grant.

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Strategic use of locally produced, renewable energy through smart microgrids can reduce power costs and help prevent outages. Assistant professors Wei Sun and Reinaldo Tonkoski of the South Dakota State University Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department are developing the smart power management technologies that will make it possible for communities and businesses to use locally produced wind and solar energy yet maintain a consistent, reliable power system. The automated system will also facilitate development of a self-healing smart grid that can help prevent power outages.

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The same spring rains that lessen producers’ concerns about drought can also lead to soil erosion and nutrient runoff. Keeping soil and fertilizers where they belong—in the field—benefits producers and the environment, according to South Dakota State University plant scientist Sandeep Kumar. He and graduate student Sagar Gautam used computer modeling to determine which farm management methods will produce the best reduction in surface runoff.

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Scientists at South Dakota State University analyzed a half-mile slice of Western Antarctica ice core to help determine that climate change begins in the Arctic and moves southward, according to chemistry professor Jihong Cole-Dai of the SDSU Ice Core and Environmental Chemistry Lab. Since 2006, the SDSU research team have been part of a National Science Foundation project to uncover the secrets within the 2-mile long Western Antarctica Ice Sheet Divide ice core.

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A compound and an enzyme that occur naturally in cruciferous vegetables—cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts—may help prevent recurrence and spread of some cancers, according to associate professor Moul Dey of the South Dakota State University Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences. When Dey and her team treated human cervical cancer stem cells with phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) in a Petri dish, about 75 percent died within 24 hours using a 20-micromolar concentration of the compound.

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The new strain of flu that affected more than 1,000 dogs in Chicago has not yet spread to South Dakota, but South Dakota State University veterinarians advise owners to be vigilant. To test for the virus, veterinarians will swab the animal's nose and throat and send the samples to the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at SDSU, which typically processes them the same day they are received.

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Figuring out what’s happening at a cellular and molecular level may help scientists develop ways to treat or prevent age-related, neurogenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Through National Institutes of Health funding, pharmacy professor Xiangming Guan and his team at South Dakota State University, Guan and his team developed the first imaging reagent that can determine thiol levels in intact living cells. Now they are working on reagents that can selectively show thiol density in subcellular structures, specifically the nucleus and mitochondria. Guan hopes to develop a nontoxic reagent safe enough to be used for diagnostic imaging, like an MRI.

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Fulfilling a sow’s increased nutritional needs in the last trimester may lead to greater productivity for both the mother and her piglets, according to assistant professor Crystal Levesque of the South Dakota State University Department of Animal Science. Through a pilot study, she has found “fairly clear preliminary evidence that we’re impacting at least piglet survivability in the first week post-weaning.”

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A victim of cyanide poisoning can die within 30 minutes.The diagnostic test to determine cyanide exposure takes 24 hours.Two chemists at South Dakota State University have developed a prototype that can detect exposure to cyanide in 70 seconds via a blood sample. The device could save lives, whether it be diagnosing exposure from an industrial fire or a terrorist attack

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“Secure, healthy caregiving is just as important as genetic factors in preventing physical and emotional problems,” according to South Dakota State University nursing professor Marylou Mylant. That’s the premise behind research on strengthening families to fight a dramatic increase in obesity among Native American preschoolers. Less than 25 percent of the preschoolers at the intervention site have normal BMIs.

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Using natural soil components to trap pollutants will allow producers to control soil contaminants and reuse draining water while protecting their agricultural crops, according to Mohamed Elsayed, a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar at South Dakota State University’s chemistry and biochemistry department. His research seeks to increase the ability of humic acid to adsorb, or trap pollutants, in combination with either of two clay minerals—kaolinite or montmorillonite.

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Tumor cells require high levels of glucose to multiply. This, in turn, creates more lactic acid, a byproduct that negatively affects the body’s immune response thereby reducing the effectiveness of drug therapies. Scientists from Sanford Research and South Dakota State University are using a low-glucose diet and specially designed anti-cancer drugs to improve therapeutic outcomes in cancer patients.

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As the price of gasoline drops, the number of automobile crashes increases, according to analysis of monthly crash data. from the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety for 1998 to 2007. However, the time frame within which this occurs varies based on the driver’s age, according to South Dakota State University sociologist Guangqing Chi. He led the multi-institutional team of researchers who analyzed crash data from Minnesota, Mississippi and Alabama in relationship to gasoline prices.

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Tillage practices that conserve moisture, plants that use water more efficiently and soil with more organic matter have produced higher yields even in dry conditions, according to soil scientist David Clay, professor of plant science at South Dakota State University. In addition, scientists have a better understanding about how water stress decreases the plants’ ability to take up nutrients and recover from pest injury.

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Nurses, doctors, pharmacists and therapists care for the same patient, but often don’t meet until they are practicing health professionals. Simulations at the Sullivan Health Science Center in Sioux Falls involving pharmacy students and graduate and undergraduate nursing students from South Dakota State University are giving them a taste of reality and building their confidence.

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Organic solar cells are less expensive to produce than silicon-based technologies, but to make them competitive a method must be found to increase their efficiency. Qiquan Qiao of the South Dakota State University Center for Advanced Photovoltaics is using tunnel junctions to provide effective pathways through which charge can travel and thus reduce energy losses

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In an era when consumers have a wealth of information at their fingertips, where do consumers go for recommendations on meat-purchasing? A pilot study by consumer economist Kuo-Liang “Matt” Chang and a team of researchers from South Dakota State University showed that websites and social media are sources of information about nutrition and cooking that then may lead to recommendations on meat purchasing.