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The search committee for the dean position at South Dakota State University’s College of Natural Sciences has named three finalists, who will be on campus over the next two weeks.  â€¨Each candidate will spend a day-and-a-half interviewing and meeting with university leadership, deans, researchers, faculty, students and staff. There will be open forums for each candidate to engage with other key stakeholders, including community and university members.  â€¨The finalists are (by interview date): 

Sen Subramanian, Ph.D. 

Subramanian currently serves as the interim dean and associate dean for research in the College of Natural Sciences at ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ. He has held leadership roles in multiple federally funded research centers and was instrumental in the formation of two current National Science Foundation-funded research centers. 

His research program on symbiotic nitrogen fixation with the long-term goal of improving farm profits and reducing environmental damage from excessive nitrogen fertilizer use has been supported by competitive research grant awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, National Science Foundation and South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, among other agencies. 

Subramanian earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture and his master’s in biotechnology, both in India. He earned his doctorate in biology from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and his postdoctoral training at the Danforth Plant Science Center and Washington University in St. Louis. 

His open forum will be held from 1-2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, in Wagner Hall 238. To participate in the open forum session via Zoom, visit . 

Jacob Kerby, Ph.D. 

Kerby is the current chair of the Department of Biology at the University of South Dakota. He has won several awards highlighting his success in both teaching and research and was named Schwartz Distinguished Professor in 2020. 

His previous administrative positions include serving as associate chair for his department, the director of research for the Missouri River Institute and as the chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee overseeing all vertebrate research at USD. 

His current research integrates many fields of study to investigate the causes of amphibian declines worldwide. His research has focused primarily on understanding the impacts of multiple stressors, both biotic (predators and pathogens) and abiotic (pollutants and habitat alterations), on aquatic communities. 

Kerby earned his bachelor’s degree in psychobiology from Pepperdine University, his master’s in biology from California State University, Northridge, and his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. 

His open forum will be held from 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, in Wagner Hall 238. To participate in the open forum session via Zoom, visit . 

Daniel Cziczo, Ph.D. 

Cziczo is department head and professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University. He is an atmospheric chemist interested in the interrelationship of particulate matter and cloud formation. 

His research utilizes laboratory and field studies to elucidate how small particles interact with water vapor to form droplets and ice crystals which are important players in the Earth’s climate system. Experiments include using small cloud chambers in the laboratory to mimic atmospheric conditions that lead to cloud formation and observing clouds in situ from remote mountaintop sites or through the use of research aircraft. 

Cziczo’s current research interests include chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols with an emphasis on their effect on cloud formation mechanisms, Earth’s radiative budget, and meteoritic debris and launch vehicle emissions in the atmosphere. 

Cziczo earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois and his master’s and his Ph.D. in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago. 

His open forum will be held from 1-2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9, in Wagner Hall 238. To participate in the open forum session via Zoom, visit . 

For more information on the candidates, including their curriculum vitae, Zoom and evaluation links, visit the dean finalists webpage.