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Professional Ag Marketing of Luverne, Minnesota, has made a significant gift to the Richard Wahlstrom Endowment Fund at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ to enhance students’ knowledge of risk management for grain and livestock producers.

By the narrowest of margins — two points out of more than 2,000 — the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Quarter Scale Tractor Team came up just short of winning its third consecutive national title. Competing at the 27th annual International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition at the Expo Gardens Fairgrounds in Peoria, Illinois, the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ team placed third out of 21 teams.

David C. Earnest, the Odeen-Swanson Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of South Dakota, has been named dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ. Earnest was selected following a national search and will begin working on the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ campus July 8.

Former, current and future public servants gathered April 9 to celebrate the creation of the Mike Huether Public Service Academy at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ.

Jeremiah Bergstrom, lecturer of landscape architecture in the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ School of Design, has received a top award from the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for a collaborative project on rising floodwaters.

The annual ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Celebration of Faculty Excellence recognized 30 faculty members, researchers and scientists Tuesday. The event honors faculty members in the university's colleges for outstanding research, teaching and service.

Professional sports, whether it be playing in or working for, is a goal for many high school and college students across the country. Samuel Pichura, a ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ senior, is no exception. This past summer, he fulfilled his dreams while interning for his one of favorite professional sports teams, the Minnesota Vikings.

After nearly two years of construction, the POET Bioproducts Center has officially opened its doors to the region's leading bioprocessing scientists. The new laboratory, located in the Research Park at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ, will bring researchers from ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ and South Dakota Mines together with industry partners to scale up innovative biotechnologies and varying South Dakota's economy.

A new study from Srinivas Janaswamy has revealed how spent coffee grounds can be made into biodegradable films—material that could one day replace plastics.

Over the past two decades, the United States has been importing more and more avocados each year, underlining a growing obsession with the nutrient-dense fruit. Simultaneously, the U.S. and the rest of the world have been dealing with a growing environmental crisis spurred on by an overreliance on plastic. Could avocados — specifically avocado peels — provide a potential solution?