A search committee established to find the next dean of SDSU’s College of Natural Sciences has named three finalists, who will visit campus over the next two weeks.

The candidates will spend a day and a half in interviews and meetings with university leadership, deans, researchers, faculty, students and staff.

Each candidate will have open forums to engage with other key stakeholders, including community and university members.

The candidates are listed below by interview date:

Sen Subramanian, Ph.D.

Subramanian is currently the college’s interim and associate dean. He has served in leadership roles in multiple federally funded research centers and was instrumental in forming two current National Science Foundation-funded centers.

His research on symbiotic nitrogen fixation 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, among others.

Subramanian earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture and biotechnology in India. He then 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 from 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2, in Wagner Hall 238. The link to participate via Zoom is here.

Jacob Kerby, Ph.D.

Kerby is the current chair of the University of South Dakota Department of Biology. He has received several awards for his teaching and research, and in 2020, he was named Schwartz Distinguished Professor.

He has served as associate chair of his department, director of research for the Missouri River Institute and chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, which oversees all vertebrate research at USD.

His research focuses on understanding the causes of amphibian declines worldwide. Previous work has primarily focused on the impacts of multiple stressors 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 from 1 to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, in Wagner Hall 238. The link to participate via Zoom is here.

Daniel Cziczo, Ph.D.

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

His research uses lab and field studies to explain how small particles interact with water vapor to form droplets and ice crystals.

His current research interests include the chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols and 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 Ph.D. in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago.

His open forum will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9, in Wagner Hall 238. The link to participate via Zoom is here.

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