Dairy Science

Program Description

The Dairy Science Department provides research opportunities leading to Masters and PhD degrees.  SDSU is one of two universities in the US with a Dairy Science Program that offers Dairy Production and Manufacturing majors.  It is equipped with excellent laboratories, a diary processing plant which manufactures fluid milk, cheese, butter, ice cream and other products; and a dairy production research and training facility where a herd of 300 Holstein and Brown Swiss cattle for teaching and research is maintained.  Metabolism and surgical facilities in the Animal Science Complex, and specialized laboratory equipment in Station Biochemistry, Veterinary Science, and Nutrition and Food Science Programs are also available.  Graduate students accepted in the program will have opportunities to utilize these facilities to develop basic and/or applied research programs in dairy product processing, microbiology, chemistry, food safety, dairy cattle nutrition, metabolism, breeding, microbiology of the rumen, immunology, and management, while interacting with well qualified faculty.

The SDSU Dairy Science Program, in collaboration with the Food Science and Nutrition Program at the University of Minnesota and the Food Science and Human Nutrition Program at Iowa State University, is the Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center.  This provides graduate students in the manufacturing area a unique opportunity to be involved with current issues and research needs.