South Dakota spending, because of the proximity of many tourist attractions in the Black Hills and Ellsworth Air Force Base. The next eight largest cities in the state, in order of descending 2010 population, are Aberdeen (26,091), Brookings (22,056), Watertown (21,482), Mitchell (15,254), Yankton (14,454), Pierre (13,646), Huron (12,592), and Vermillion (10,571). Pierre is the state capital, and Brookings and Vermillion are the locations of the state's two largest universities (South Dakota State University and University of South Dakota, respectively). With a population of about 14,000, Pierre is the second smallest state capital in the United States. Of the ten largest cities
South Dakota State University Among alumni who are political figures are seven members of Congress, most notably Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Tom Daschle and first American Indian member of Congress Ben Reifel. Alumni of South Dakota State have occupied top positions in Wall Street and the rest of the business world, including CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Nizar Al-Adsani. In science and technology, alumni include IBM 360 inventor Gene Amdahl, "father of Amdahl's law", and Nobel laureate Theodore Schultz, "father of Human Capital Theory." South Dakota State University South Dakota State University is a public research university in Brookings, South Dakota,