Faculty Receive Awards at ADSA

Two Dairy Science faculty members, Dr. David Schingoethe and Dr. Ashraf Hassan, were recognized with awards at the 2006 American Dairy Science Association annual meeting in Minneapolis.

David J. Schingoethe, faculty of Dairy Science at South Dakota State University (SDSU) since 1969 and currently Distinguished Professor, was presented the ADSA Award of Honor. Since 1964, when he became a member of ADSA, he has served the organization in many capacities. He was appointmented in 2003 as the president of the Federation of Animal Science Societies, and elected as President of ADSA in 2001. South Dakota State University named him Distinguished Professor in 2003. Dr. Schingoethe has made outstanding contributions to dairy education through teaching and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, and to dairy farmer groups. He has lectured in practically every dairy production course in the department. He has served as advisor to 10 to 30 undergraduate students per year and has been the major advisor to 34 M.S. and 9 Ph.D. students during his tenure at SDSU. Dr. Schingoethe has developed a reputation as an outstanding, creative, and innovative dairy nutritionist. His grant activity, publication record, and graduate student mentorship are testimony to his highly productive research program. He has received numerous grants from a diverse range of funding sources, including the National Science Foundation, various industry organizations and commodity groups. He has to his credit 123 peer reviewed papers, 165 abstracts of papers presented at scientific meetings, 8 chapters in books, and 2 patents. His research activities are diverse and in-depth and include studies on dairy nutrition, enhancing the nutritional value of milk fat, optimization of forage use, applications of byproducts in feeds, and many others. He was a leader in the application of whey, which is a byproduct of the cheese industry, in dairy cattle feeding. He is considered a leader in the use of distillers grains and sunflower products in dairy cattle diets. He has conducted collaborative research to include the impact of cattle feeding techniques on the nutritional and processing characteristics of milk and milk products. He has several book chapters to his credit. He has also been the recipient of several local and national professional awards, including the Gamma Sigma Delta research award in 1987, F. O. Butler Research Award in 1985, and Teacher of the year award, College of Graduate Studies in 1988, all at SDSU. Other awards include the American Feed Industry Association award in 1989 and the Nutritional Professionals Inc. Applied Dairy Nutrition award in 1996 and the Land O’ Lakes Award in 2003.

Ashraf N. Hassan, Assistant Professor in Dairy Science and faculty member at SDSU since 2003 was presented the ADSA Foundation Scholar Award. Dr. Hassan has established an excellent research record particularly in the area of applications of exopolysaccharides in dairy products. Dr. Hassan’s research efforts have increased our understanding of the nature of exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by lactic acid bacteria, and their contribution to the physical properties of cultured dairy foods. This research led to the development of technology for producing low fat cheese that exhibits physical properties similar to full fat varieties. Dr. Hassan’s research in this area started with his observation that lactic cultures produce EPS is two different forms, unattached to the cells and attached in the form of a capsule. He observed that the capsular EPS modified the microstructure of yogurt and cheese curd in a manner similar to that of milk fat globules by interrupting the casein matrix. This observation was made possible by Dr. Hassan’s development of techniques to observe dairy product microstructure by confocal laser scanning microscopy. This technology provided, for the first time, observation of microstructure of fully hydrated dairy products, therefore allowing elucidation of the importance of the highly hydrated capsular material. Dr. Hassan was then able to apply this basic information to cheese manufacture, resulting in improvements in the physical properties of low fat Cheddar and Feta cheese varieties. In addition to his research program, Dr. Hassan also teaches Technical Control of Dairy Products I and parts of Dairy Product Processing I and II.

14 July 2006

South Dakota State University / Dairy Science Department
Dairy Microbiology Rm 109 / Phone: 605-688-4116
College of Agricultural and Biological Sciences