Early-career award for Indian-American Professor Kaliramesh Siliveru of Kansas State

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The Agricultural, Biological, and Food Engineers of Indian Origin (AABFEIO) presented its 2021 Early Career Engineer of the Year Award to Assistant Professor of grain science at Kansas State University College of Agriculture Kaliramesh Siliveru.

The AABFEIO is part of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ Association. In its announcement made around mid-July, the AABFEIO said this was another ‘newly introduced’ award, congratulating Professor Siliveru on LinkedIn.

Siliveru, a PhD in Grain Science and Industry from Kansas State, is a graduate of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University in India and did his Masters of Technology in Food Process Engineering from the Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology, Tanjavur in 2012, before joining the doctoral program at Kansas State in 2013. He became an Assistant Professor there in 2018.

The award “recognizes the outstanding engineering achievements in design, research, development, or management made by young professional agricultural, biological and food engineers in the past three years,” says an article on Kansas State U website.

Gordon Smith, the grain science and industry department head, told K-State Today that Siliveru “has established a very active research, teaching and outreach program in the areas of grain processing, materials handling and mathematical modeling that has caught the attention of the grain-based food and feed industry and attracted substantial funding in support of his efforts and program establishment,” in the few years since he joined the University.

At K-State, Siliveru specializes in grain processing and milling, process modeling and simulation, particle technology and materials handling; physical, chemical, and surface properties and their correlation in food and feed materials, according to his profile on the University website.

His profile details his program at K-State, which includes teaching courses on particle technology, advanced grain processing technology, and grain handling.

Alongside, he conducts research related to grain processing and storage.

His research experience includes a stint in the department of Biosystems Engineering while working on his master’s at the University of Manitoba, and then as a research associate for the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, the biography notes.

Professor Siliveru has authored or co-authored 14 refereed journal papers and more than 42 conference papers.

Since starting at K-State, Siliveru has been honored with 13 awards in the department, college, university, national and international levels.

Some of the awards are the 2018 New Face of ASABE, 2017 Order of the Engineer from the ASABE, 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student (PhD) from the Department of Grain Science and Industry, 2016 AACCI Milling and Baking Travel Award, 2015 Texture Technologies Quality Research Award – Best Presentation from the AACCI, and 2014 Distillers Grain Research Scholarship from the Distillers Grain Technology Council.

This year, he also received the 2021 Andersons Early-in-Career Award of Excellence, by NC-213-the U.S Quality Grains Research Consortium; the 2021 Gamma Sigma Delta Early Career Award, by Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honor Society of Agriculture, ETA Chapter.

Siliveru’s faculty mentors, Charles Stark and Subramanyam Bhadriraju, are pleased to see his work recognized.

“Within a short period of time Dr. Siliveru has established an impactful research program on grain processing funded through federal and industry grants, and by training both graduate and undergraduate researchers,” Siliveru’s mentor and faculty member Subramanyam Bhadriraju told K-State Today.