Members

Xufei Yang, PhD

I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) and Department of Animal Science (ANS) at Michigan State University (MSU). I also serve as an Extension Specialist, providing environmental management outreach to animal farmers and rural residents in the state of Michigan. Prior to joining MSU, I was an Assistant/Associated Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at South Dakota State University (SDSU) and an Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering at Montana Technological University (MTech). Details about my background and experience can be found here.

Dr. Catkins is a friendly joke that my former students at MTech made – as evidenced by a sticker on my office door. My name in Chinese means "Aspen catkins are flying," not the king of cats!

Current Members

Graduate students:

Pradeep Kumar. Ph.D. student (South Dakota State University)
Youwen Yang. Ph.D. student (Michigan State University)

Lab alumni

Postdocs at South Dakota State University:

Dr. Shalini Tiwari. (Jan 2024–Jun 2025); currently works as an Assistant Professor of Biology for University of the Ozarks, Arkansas.
Dr. Serdar Ucok. (Feb 2024–Jan 2025); currently works as an Assistant Professor of Biosystems Engineering for Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Turkey.
Dr. Seyit Uguz. (Feb 2024–Jan 2025); currently works as a Research Assistan of Biosystems Engineering for Bursa Uludag University, Turkey. Seyit will be joining University of California-Davis as an assistant research scientist.

Graduate students at South Dakota State University:

Youwen Yang, M.S. Biological Science - ABE option (Jan 2024–Aug 2025); currently study at MSU as an animal science Ph.D. student.
Talha Khan. M.S. Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering (Sep 2023–May 2025); currently works as an engineer for the SD Soybean Processors, LLC.
Noor Haleem. Ph.D. Biological Sciences - ABE option (Aug 2021–May 2024); currently works as an Assistant Professor for the National University of Science and Technology, Pakistan.
Augustina Osabutey. Ph.D. Agricultural, Biosystems and Mechanical Engineering (Jan 2020–Jan 2023); currently works for Sioux Falls City Works as a water quality engineer.
Zhisheng (Jason) Cen. Ph.D. student, Agricultural, Biosystems and Mechanical Engineering (Aug 2020–May 2021).
Mengling Ding. M.S. Computer Science (Summer 2021); Mengling is a honorable guest and she was extremely helpful with our LoRaWAN IoT and Web SDOFT projects
Xiaozhu Jin. Ph.D. student of Computer Science (Feb 2023–May 2023). M.S. and B.S. Computer Science, South Dakota State University; Xiaozhu worked on a LPWAN cyber-security project.

Undergraduate students at South Dakota State University:

Grace Cheeseman. B.S. Pre-Vet (2024-2025)
Ivy Fan. B.S. Applied Health Science (2022-2023)
Karlee Albert. B.S. Biology and Microbiology (2021-2022)
Hunter Koolstra. B.S. Agricultural Science (2020-2021)
Audree Berreth. B.S. Animal Science (2020-2021)
Harsh Dubey. B.S. in Electrical Engineering (2020)
Brady Cromer. B.S. Agricultural Technology System (2019-2020)
Alexander Davis. B.S. Construction Management Department (2019-2020)
Logan Prouty. B.S. Construction Management Department (2019-2020)

Graduate students at Montana Tech:

Timothy Driscoll. M.S. Environmental Engineering (2019); currently works for Water Environmental Technology as an engineer.
Siwen Liu. M.S. Environmental Engineering (2018); currently works for WSP as an environmental engineer
Kelly Benton. M.S. Environmental Engineering (2016); currently works for Kennedy Jenks as an associate engineer
Terry Biere. M.S. Environmental Engineering (2016); currently works for Greenfield Environmental Trust Group, Inc.. as a project manager

Undergraduate students at Montana Tech:

Douglas Hicks. B.S. Environmental Engineering (2018-2019)
Caelan Brady. B.S. Environmental Engineering (2018)
Trent Magill. B.S. Environmental Engineering (2018)
Emma Wooldridge. B.S. Environmental Engineering (2017)

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