TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX)-Utah State University says it made a Twin Falls man the head of its dairy program. Dr. Eric Bastian lives in Twin Falls and will lead the Western Dairy Center as director.

According to USU, the Western Dairy Center is group of universities, researchers and students working together through the BUILD Dairy program (Building University and Industry Linkages through learning and Discovery) in which Dr. Bastian help build in 2012. Dr. Bastian has worked as the vice president of industry relations for the organization and helped secure funding last year that increased the number of USU student-researchers in the BUILD Dairy program.

"I believe that the dairy industry will flourish as it embraces innovation in products, processes and packaging," Dr. Bastian said in a prepared statement. "Those innovations will depend on future leaders that we are developing in the BUILD Dairy Program which operates within the Western Dairy Center." Dr. Bastian was raised on a Utah dairy farm and graduated from USU.

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