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Despite being the recipient of numerous awards over the years, including this year’s F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Teaching, Tadd Hellwig, a professor of pharmacy practice in SDSU’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, didn’t always picture himself as an educator.

Graduate students make up about 10% of the student population across more than 100 master’s degree and Ph.D. programs and specializations and 23 graduate certificate programs offered at Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ. Each graduate student is immersed in research and scholarship with the support of their advisor and the Graduate School staff. April 6-10 is Graduate Student Appreciation Week, a great opportunity to highlight a few graduate students at SDSU and the work they are accomplishing.

Elias Gerstman, an electrical engineering major from Maryland, enjoys a bite of chocolate cream pie March 12. The Department of Mathematics and Statistics got a bit of a jump on Pi Day (March 14) because the official date fell on a Saturday at the start of spring break. Gerstman wears the department’s official Pi Day T-shirt, an annual design contest which he won in 2026. He depicts a unit circle on top of a pie with a lattice top crust. In more detail, it shows a unit circle with angle measurements depicted in terms of pi radians.

The South Dakota Space Design Competition welcomed students from across the Upper Midwest for the camp’s third year at Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ.  High school students from South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota were invited to explore space design and different areas of science, technology, engineering and math at the March 14-15 event, which was in person March 14 and virtual March 15 due to an incoming blizzard. Participants were given industry-specific challenges and tasked with delivering real-world solutions. 

Thanks to a series of grants, Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ offers a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling with tuition, fees and books all covered — meaning these counselors could get a graduate degree debt-free.

In 2014, Jacob Englin walked across the graduation stage at Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ with a bachelor's degree in agricultural education and a dream to help shape the next generation of agricultural leaders. Over a decade later, he’s back at SDSU not as a student, but as a full-time assistant professor helping to guide the very program that once shaped him.

An addition to Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ’s Swine Education and Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Facility has completed the final round of legislative approval. House Bill 1118, approving the design and construction for an expansion to the university’s existing swine wean-to-finish facility was signed into law Tuesday afternoon by Gov. Larry Rhoden.

Two women's passion for service inspired Larson throughout her nursing career and as a sister. And they continue to guide her in her new national leadership role as the president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. She’ll hold the position for one year and then serve as past president for a year.

Keely Eagleshield was officially appointed to the Larson Family Endowed Director of Wokini and Tribal Relations at Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ on Dec. 8, 2025.

Fueled by a love for Legos and a fascination for how the body works, Edina, Minnesota, fifth-grader William O’Connell started writing research papers on how the eye functions and what causes an appendicitis. That was 2015. Ten years later, O’Connell is still writing research papers, though the words have gotten bigger and the topic more complex. The Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ junior has a double major in human biology and mechanical engineering with a biomedical engineering minor with plans to graduate in May 2027. He also is a member of the fourth class of Future Innovators of America, which are chosen by the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering.