Dr. Ustad is the South Dakota EPSCoR Director coordinating the state’s EPSCoR research activities and serving as the Project Director/Principal Investigator of South Dakota’s current NSF EPSCoR award.  Dr. Ustad served as the Director of Research and Commercialization for the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) from 2004 to 2017. Dr. Ustad served as Interim Vice President for Research at the University of South Dakota from 2001-2004.