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Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan

Muthu

Title

Klingbeil Endowed Department Head/Distinguished Professor

Office Building

Raven Precision Agriculture Center

Office

136H

Mailing Address

Raven Precision Ag Building 136H
Ag & Biosystems Engineering-Box 2100
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007

Biography

Dr. Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan, Klingbeil Endowed Department Head and Distinguished Professor in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department at South Dakota State University, has been the principal investigator on several research projects and an advisor to undergraduate and graduate students with academic and research activities. His research work is actively involved in national and international standards development focused in food and bioprocessing. He has authored or coauthored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and made more than 350 regional, national and international presentations. K. Muthukumarappan has contributed to the revision of three ASABE standards. He has served in leadership roles on numerous Food and Process Engineering Institute (FPEI) committees and served as FPEI division representative to the Standards council. He is currently serving as associate editor of Transactions of the ASABE. A few of his awards and honors include a 2013 Distinguished Professor, 2012 ASABE Fellow Award, 2012 F.O. Butler Service Award, 2011 Griffith Faculty Research Award, 2010 International Research Award, 2009 Evelyn E. Rosentreter Standards Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions as a research leader and educator in the food and bioprocess engineering area, and in the development of international and ASABE standards, South Dakota State University F.O. Butler Research Award and CoE Outstanding Researcher award.

Education

  • Ph.D. in agricultural engineering | University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • M.S. in food engineering | Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
  • B.S. in agricultural engineering | Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India
  • B.S. in mathematics | University of Madras, India

Academic Interests

  • Food engineering
  • Bioprocess engineering
  • Biofuels
  • Biochemical conversion

Academic Responsibilities

  • AST 443, Food Process and Engineering Fundamentals
  • ABE 754, Advanced Unit Operations in Food and Biomaterials Processing
  • MICR 450/550, Advanced Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • AE 795 - Current Topics in Food and Bioprocessing
  • ABE 795 – Special Topics – Dynamic Rheology
  • ABE 770 - Special Problems in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
  • ABE 790 - Thesis in Engineering
  • ABME 898 – Ph.D. Dissertation

Committees and Professional Memberships

Committees:

  • International Committee, SDSU
  • Food Engineering Division, Institute of Food Technologists
  • Refrigerated and Frozen Foods Division, Institute of Food Technologists

Professional Memberships:

  • American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
  • Institute of Food Technologists
  • American Society of Engineering Education
  • Sigma Xi
  • AICHE
  • Gamma Sigma Delta

Awards and Honors

  1. Awarded Distinguished Professor and Graduate Coordinator
  2. Elected for 2012 ASABE Fellow Grade
  3. Received 2012 F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Service
  4. Elected as a panel reviewer for 2010-2013 Fulbright Specialist Program
  5. Invited panel leader for a 2012 USDA-DOE biomass project site visit
  6. Received 2011 SDSU Griffith Faculty Research Award
  7. Invited panel leader for a 2011 USDA-DOE biomass project site visit
  8. Received 2010 SDSU International/Global Research Award
  9. Keynote Address at the 2010 International Bioenergy Conference, Beijing, China
  10. Nominated, Elected and Received Prestigious 2009 ASABE Evelyn E. Rosentreter Standards Award
  11. Nominated and Elected as an Editor of International Journal of Food and Bioprocess Technology
  12. Finalist for 2009 Global Venture Challenge International Competition at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN
  13. Nominated, Elected and Received 2008 ASABE Standards Developer Award
  14. Nominated, Elected and Received 2008 SDSU College of Engineering Researcher of the Year Award
  15. Nominated and Elected as the Editor of International Journal of Food Properties
  16. Nominated and Received 2006 F.O. Butler Foundation Award for Excellence in Research at South Dakota State University
  17. Nominated and Received 2006 ABS College Dean’s Team award for developing a bioprocessing center at South Dakota State University in collaboration with SD School of Mines and Technology
  18. Nominated and Received 2006 IFT-Food Engineering Division Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award
  19. Nominated and Received 2005 IFT-Great Plains Section Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award
  20. Nominated and Received 2004 Sigma Xi President’s Award
  21. Nominated and Received 2004 Outstanding Diversity Service Award
  22. Nominated and Received 2004 ASAE Standards Developer Award
  23. Nominated and Received 2003 Gamma Sigma Delta Research Award
  24. Nominated and Received 2001 Sigma Xi Researcher of the Year Award
  25. Nominated and Received Outstanding Agricultural Engineering Graduate Student Award, ASAE, 1993
  26. Nominated and Received Hisamatsu prize, Asian Institute of Technology, 1988
  27. Premier Irrigation Gold Medal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 1986
  28. B.M. Lakshmipathi Medal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 1986
  29. G.R. Varadharajulu Memorial Medal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 1986
  30. Associated Agencies Medal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 1986
  31. TNAU Merit Scholarship, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 1982

Grants

  • A DOE-Sun Grant Feedstock logistics proposal titled “Transforming and Densifying Biomass in Regional Biomass Processing Centers (RBPC)” in collaboration with faculty in SDSU, NDSU, SDSM&T, FM, Inc. and MSU
  • A NSF-MRI proposal titled “MRI: Ultra high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass-spectrometer” in collaboration with faculty in SDSU
  • SD – Governor 2010 research proposal titled “Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD)” in collaboration with faculty in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Chemistry, Microbiology and Nutrition, Food Science and Hospitality Departments, Enterprise Institute and SD School of Mines and Technology faculty
  • USDA-NCARL proposal titled “Extrusion Processing of Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) for Aquaculture Feeds”
  • USDA-NCARL proposal titled “Storage and Flow Characteristics of Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS)”
  • USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant titled “Biobased Products and Bioenergy Multi-University Graduate Program”
  • DOT-Sun Grant proposal titled “Developing a Prairie Biorefinery”
  • DOT-Regional Sun Grant proposal titled “Develop sustainable renewable energy systems for practical utilization of bulky biomass”
  • DOT-Regional Sun Grant proposal titled “Developing a Sustainable Feedstock and Next-Generation Processing Technologies for Biofuels Production”
  • DMI proposal titled “Manufacture of WPC and WPI for use in beverage applications” in collaboration with Lloyd Metzger
  • DMI proposal titled “Institute for Dairy Ingredients Processing” in collaboration with Lloyd Metzger, V. Mistry, A. Hassan
  • SD Corn Utilization Council proposal titled “Development of a novel pyrolytic process for the conversion of corn biomass to biofuels and char residue” in collaboration with Hanwu Lei and J. Julson
  • USDA-Sun Grant proposal titled “Development of an interactive input/output process and cost model with consideration of impacts of the end use of the biochar on the carbon status of the fuels or products made in the thermochemical conversion process” in collaboration with Hanwu Lei, J. Julson

Work Experience

February 2013 – present, Distinguished Professor and Graduate Coordinator, Department of Agricultural
and Biosystems Engineering, South Dakota State University.

July 2006 – January 2013, professor, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, South Dakota State University - Developed, updated and taught curriculum for undergraduate and graduate level courses using effective teaching techniques. Principal Investigator on several research projects, and advised undergraduate students, and graduate students in their academic and research activities. Wrote funded grant proposals, published numerous articles in refereed journals and presented papers at several invited national and international conferences.

March 2007 – August 2007, visiting professor, University College Dublin, Ireland - Worked on a FIRM funded research project titled “Efficacy of ozone and ultrasound for retention of quality and microbial reduction in fruit juice”. Advised two post graduate students and one post-doctoral research associate in carrying out both engineering and microbiology aspects of this collaborative food safety project.

July 2001 – June 2007, associate professor, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, South Dakota State University - Developed, updated and taught curriculum for undergraduate and graduate level courses using effective teaching techniques. Principal Investigator on several research projects, and advised undergraduate students, and graduate students in their academic and research activities. Wrote funded grant proposals, published articles in refereed journals and presented papers at several invited national and international conferences.

Aug. 1997 – June 2001, assistant professor, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, South Dakota State University - Principal Investigator on several research projects, advised undergraduate students and graduate students in their academic and research activities. Wrote funded grant proposals, published articles in refereed journals and presented papers at several invited national and international conferences.

Aug. 1993 – July 1997, associate researcher, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison - Co-PI on several research projects, advised students in academic and research activities, wrote funded grant proposals, published articles in refereed journals and presented papers at several invited national and international conferences.

July 1989 – July 1993, graduate research assistant, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jan. 1987 – June 1989, graduate research assistant, Division of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.

Areas of Research

Value addition to South Dakota Crops such as corn, soybean, wheat, oats and oilseeds.

  • Develop a bio-refinery system to produce energy, materials and chemicals from renewable resources, which will have significant positive impacts on national energy security, rural economy and environment.
  • Develop the fundamental platform technologies needed to refine biomass into higher value products (biomaterials, chemicals, fuels and foods). These technologies could utilize a wide range of feedstocks (eg. crop/forestry residues, new biomass crops), converting them into common intermediate compounds (eg. sugars, amino acids, bioactive compounds). These compounds could be final products themselves, or could serve as substrates for conversion into dozens of higher value secondary products (eg. organic acids, biopolymers, nutraceuticals). Specific technologies that are currently under investigation include Supercritical pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass to facilitate enzymatic conversion to fermentable sugars.
  • Understand the relationship between cheese melting and sensory properties of a wide variety of cheeses. This will enable manufacturers/processors to more accurately and reliably manipulate and control cheese melt properties.
  • Develop novel fractionation techniques for separating high value nanoparticles from cheese whey.
  • Develop Extruded Value-Added Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and Wet Distillers Grains with Solubles (WDGS).

Department(s)