BAE Alumni & Friends – 1

In This Issue

Outstanding Alumnus Award ................................1 Faculty News .....................2 Department Head’s Comments ..........................2 Beasley leaves for ASU .....3 New Dept. Endowment .....3 Whitaker Retires ................4 Spring Banquet .................4 In & Around Weaver..........5 Advisory Board .................5 CAST Award ......................6 Graduate News ..................6 Practices Enhance Sustain-ability .................................6 Staff News .........................8 Development Resource Award ................................8 Alumni Updates ...............10 Competition Results ........11

Visit Bio&Ag on the web at: www.bae.ncsu.edu

Fax comments & questions to: Bio&Ag News at 919-515-6772

Summer 2009

“We Bring Engineering to Life”

Department Head Dr. Robert EvansWriter/Graphics Carolyn Mitkowski Advisor Dr. Greg Jennings

Bio&Ag Alumni & Friends is an annual publication of the Biological and Agricultur-al Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Box 7625, Raleigh, NC 27695-7625. If you would like to contribute to the next issue of Bio&Ag Alumni&Friends, please send your contributions to Dr. Evans at the address above or email: Robert_Evans@ncsu.edu or Carolyn_Mitkowski@ncsu.edu.

Dr. Thomas B. Whitaker was selected the 2008 Bio&Ag Outstanding Alumnus Award recipient. Dr. Whitaker is a native of Buncombe County, North Caro-lina, and received a B.S. and M.S (Agric. Engr.) from NC State University in 1962 and 1964 and a Ph.D. (Agric. Engr.) from Ohio State University in 1967. Dr. Whitaker in 1967 accepted a position with U.S. Dept. of Agricul-ture, Agricultural Research Service, Raleigh, NC, at NC State University in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering where he has dedicated himself

over the past 41 years to the improvement of food quality and food safety. Dr. Whitaker also holds the rank of Professor (USDA) in the Department.

Dr. Whitaker is internationally known for developing methods to evaluate the performance of mycotoxin sampling plans for agricultural commodities. His research has assisted domestic and international producers, processors, manufacturers, exporters, importers, and regulatory agencies to develop mycotoxin control programs. He has authored or coauthored 120 refereed publications and has made over 100 presentations at national and interna-tional scientific meetings and workshops. He has been invited to participate as a member of several international commit-tees and expert consultations. Dr. Whitaker has received numerous awards. His research program has been recognized by the Food Engineering Division of ASABE as one of the six outstanding research achievements of the 20th Century.

Dr. Whitaker’s service to agriculture con-tinued the family tradition. His father, John V. Whitaker, served many years in the NC Dept. of Agriculture and later as Secretary of the NC Milk Commission. His father-in-law, Ralph Greene, developed and supervised the Bio&Ag Research Shop from the late 1940s to 1973. Tom’s name will be etched on a plaque hung in Weaver Labs honoring all Bio&Ag outstanding alumni.

Whitaker Outstanding Alumnus

Dr. Evans presents the department award to Tom Whitaker who was also honored at the CALS Outstanding Alumni event.

Thomas B. Whitaker

andLUMNI

friendsA

2 – BAE Alumni & Friends

Greetings from Raleigh! It is a pleasure to introduce our 2009 Bio&Ag Alumni and Friends Newsletter. It has been a busy, productive, but challenging year. Like many of you, the department is challenged to overcome the economic downturn. We have been able to weather the budget cuts thus far but are all hoping the economy has bottomed.

I am pleased to report that our graduate programs was rated 6th nationally by U.S. News and World report in its most recent spring survey. Student enroll-

ment is up with undergraduate enrollment expected to exceed 150 this fall. Graduate enrollment is at an all time high at 64 students. We are reach-ing our enrollment goals faster than anticipated. The speed with which this has happened is presenting us with a couple of challenges – graduate student office space and class size. The office space dilemma will improve next summer after BME (Biomedical Engineering) moves to centennial campus freeing up 5 offices in Weaver. Managing class size is more chal-lenging as many of our classrooms are near capacity such that the only way to continue enrollment growth is to add more sections. Over the year we graduated 20 BEs, 8 AETs, 1 MBAE, 6 MS and 2 PhDs – Drs. Nick Lin-dow and Jonathan Rivin. Congratulations graduates.

The faculty were highly successful this past year in attracting nearly 6 million dollars of new external support, even under the difficult economic conditions, which is a strong testament to the relevance that our programs are viewed by our clientele and supporters. Over the past year, Bio&Ag fac-ulty were involved in 108 research and outreach projects with a combined active value of $14,939,116. The faculty published 68 referred journals, book chapters or published proceeding articles during the year. In addition, 37 technical papers were developed for national conferences resulting in 85 oral presentations of research results.

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Tom Whitaker was name the 2008 Outstanding Bio&Ag alumnus. The past year was very gratifying in terms of faculty recognition and professional development. Three faculty – Drs. Garry Grabow, Bill Hunt and Sanjay Shah were promoted to associate professor with tenure and Dr. George (Chip) Chescheir was promoted to Research Associate Professor. Dr. Larry Stikeleather was named ASABE FELLOW; four faculty (Drs. Evans, Roberson, Skaggs, and Sneed) were recognized with national awards; Dr. Andy Hale was named Blessis Out-standing Undergraduate Advisor by the College of Engineering and Dr. David Beasley accepted a position as Dean of Engineering at Arkansas State University.

As you may have noticed we have a new logo. The BAE logo has been replaced. The logo was developed to help the general public easily under-stand the kind of engineering we do.

Department Head’s CommentsFaculty NewsASABE Awards

The American Society of Agricul-tural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) named Dr. Larry F. Stikeleather, P.E. a FELLOW of the Society for his out-

standing con- tributions to industry and academia as a researcher and teacher. Stikeleather was inducted June 23, 2009 during the Annual ASABE International Meeting held in Reno, NV.

Dr. R. Wayne Skaggs, P.E. was the recipient of the 2009 ASABE Massey-Ferguson Educational Award in recognition of his dedicat-ed and extraordinary contributions to the advancement of agricultural and biological engineering as a teacher, mentor, research, and na-tional leader.

Professor Emeri-tus, Dr. Ronald E. Sneed, P.E., was the recipient of the ASABE Heermann Sprinkler Irriga-tion Award for his sustained leadership and outstanding accomplishments in the development and application of efficient sprinkler irrigation design practices in agriculture and land-scape application.

Dr. Robert O. Evans, P.E. was the recipient of the 2009 ASABE Hancor Soil and Water Engineer-ing Award for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of soil and water engineering through teaching, research, and outreach related to water table management, wetlands restoration, and agricul-tural water quality.

continued on page 3

Robert EvansLarry Stikeleather

Ron Sneed

continued on page 3

BAE Alumni & Friends – 3

New Department EndowmentThe department received a new Graduate

Engineering Fellowship Stipend Endowment from William Hugh and Glenda Noble John-son. The signing was held last August. Attend-ing the signing ceremony and reception were Dean Johnny C. Wynne, Mr. Ken Sigmon, Uni-versity Development Associate Vice Chancellor, Dr. Ken Esbenshade, Associate Dean & Director of Academic Programs, Dr. Robert Evans and faculty from the department. Dr. Johnson was a triple graduate of Bio&Ag and worked 43 years for the depart-ment in the area of Irreversible Thermodynamics and Process Engineering. The department would like to thank Dr. and Mrs. Johnson for their gift.

Faculty News continued from page 2

Drs. Thomas Losordo, BAE, and Jeffrey Hinshaw of the Biol-ogy department have won the 2009 Resources De-velopment Award given annually by the College of Ag-riculture and Life Sciences. Losordo and Hinshaw were honored for their efforts to attract nearly $5 million in cooperate gifts to support the aquaculture program at NCSU. The most exceptional gift is the bequeath-ment of controlling interest in La Paz, LLC, a caviar and sturgeon production facility in Lenoir, NC. Losordo was also instrumental in securing a $500,000 gift to CALS from Dr. I.J. and Sue Won to establish a marine aquaculture facility in Carteret County.

Dr. Andy Hale, received the College of Engineering’s George H. Blessis Outstanding Under-graduate Advisor Award.

Dr. Gary Roberson, P.E. received the 2009 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture NAC-TA Teaching Fellow Award.

Dr. Tom Whitaker was the 2008 NCSU-BAE Outstanding Alumnus and recipient of the 2008 USDA Superior Service Group Award.

Congratulations to Dr. Garry Grabow, P.E., Dr. William (Bill) Hunt, P.E., and Dr. Sanjay Shah upon their promotion to Associ-ate Professor with tenure and to Dr. George (Chip) Chescheir upon his promotion to Research Associate Professor.

continued page 7

In 2010, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Agricultural En-gineering degree program at N.C. State University. 2010 will also mark the 70th anniversary of the Department and commemorate the 40th anniversa-ry of the naming of the facilities D. S. Weaver Laboratories. We plan to kick off the anniversary celebration with a fund raising campaign later this fall. We hope that all Bio&Ag alumni will participate in the anniversary celebra-tions. Be watching for further announcements.

continued from page 2 Comments

Dr. Beasley Leaves for ASU... Congratulations to Dr. Beasley who has accepted a pres-

tigious position as Dean of Engineering at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. He will be leaving us in August.

Beasley has spent 17+ years on the faculty at NC State and for seven and a half years he served as our Department Head. Under his leadership, the department had many ac-complishments like increasing enrollment (both graduate

and undergraduate), increasing research funding, hiring new faculty, and developing and, ultimately spinning off the Biomedical program (BME).

For the past few years Beasley has been greatly involved in program assess-ment. He has worked to get the new R&D Building at the Lake Wheeler Field Labs online to raise research capabilities in air quality and waste management. He has taught natural resource engineering courses and been involved in students-oriented campus programs.

Dr. Beasley says, “The friendships and work relationships I have always appreciated and they will continue to be valued as I take on the new challenges at Arkansas State. This Department and this University will always have a special place in my heart.”

The departments also looks forward to a continued relationship and stronger bond with Arkansas State University. We wish you success in this new chapter of your professional life.

David Beasley

Thomas Losordo

4 – BAE Alumni & Friends

The banquet was held April 23rd 2009, at the McKimmon Center to recognize the department student award recipients of the past year. The banquet provided an op-portunity for the student clubs to recognize outstanding club members, for scholarship recipi-ents to meet and visit with their scholarship donor, and for faculty, staff and graduate students receiv-ing awards earlier in the year to be recognized once again.

At this year’s banquet, 17 undergraduate scholarship re-cipients were named along with 6 graduate student fellowships. Bio&Ag’s Scholarship donors who were able to attend this year where Charles Suggs, Ronald Sneed and his wife Shelba, Wil-lian Johnson and his wife Ge-lenda, Dot Howell, and George Blum. Several advisory Board members were also in atten-dance.

E. Norris Tolson, President and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and the newest member of the NCSU Board of Trustees was our prestigious guest speaker for the evening. He addressed the crowd about the growth in the Biotechnology indus-try and specifically North Carolina’s growth. He said, “things we are now doing in Biotechnology we would never have thought possible a decade ago like producing products from algae.”

After Mr. Tolson spoke, Robert Brown, of the Graduate Student As-sociation, Amy Byrd, Student Branch of ASABE and Brandon Batten, Pack-Pull-ers, recapped events and highlights of the year. The evening ended with a pre-sentation from the students to Dr. Larry Stikeleather, their choice for Bio&Ag’s best teacher of the year award.

In addition to receiving the Department Outstanding Alum-nus Award, Dr. Whitaker of-ficially retired from USDA after 42 years of federal government service working in food safety.

The department celebrated his retirement on 02/26/09 with an ice cream social held in the main lobby of Food Science De-partment. A book of letters was presented to him along with a number of gifts and mementoes.

Dr. Whitaker’s retirement was unique as two campus departments joined together to host his special day.

Whitaker said his plans for retirement are “not to be in the peanut gallery” but to continue his research at Bio&Ag. ■

Whitaker Retirement Student Spring Banquet

The speaker this year was E. Norris Tolson, President and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Dr. Robert Evans welcomes everyone to this year’s Banquet. A hundred people were in attendance.

Graduate Achievements Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi Inductee

Robert BrownPhi Kappa Phi Inductee

Ryan Winston

ASABE Honor Awards Veronica Mbaneme

Robert L. Vick College of Engineering Ambassadors

Verd Anna Cunningham Laura Lord

NCSU Undergraduate Research Award A. Brad Thompson Veronica Mlbaneme

Irrigation Association Education Foundation Essay Contest Winner

Robert L. VickNCSU Undergraduate Energy Award

Veronica Mlbaneme

Undergraduate Achievements

BAE Alumni & Friends – 95

This year, three board members have concluded their terms on the Advisory Board. They are Stanley Brantley Jr. PhD P.E., President of Amadas Industries, Inc., Mr. Ted Sherrod, P.E., NC DOT Roadside Environmental Unit, and Roy E. Young, Penn State University. Our many thanks to them for taking the time to serve on the board. New members this term are graduates of the department. We welcome them home. They are:

Mr. Swanson Graves, Presi-dent and CEO, Reddick Equip-ment Company, Inc. Reddick Equipment manufactures spray-ers for the agricultural, pest con-trol, turf, and lawn and garden markets.

David Peele, President and CEO of Avoca, Inc. Avoca specializes in the extraction and purification of natural products from plants and fermentation processes.

Mr. Don G. Lee, CPESC, Head of the Roadside Environ-mental Unit for the N.C. Depart-ment of Transportation. Lee is a founding member and past president of the North Carolina Vegetation Management Associa-tion (NCVMA).

Mr. JD Fish, Manager, Field Equipment and Application Technology Marketing Depart-ment for Bayer CropScience. Fish provides technical support and guidance throughout the com-pany including sales, marketing, regulatory department and R&D.

The board terms will conclude 2011-12.

Advisory Board

continued on page 9

Penny Wars The Annual ASABE Club’s Pie

Throwing Event is the official end to the Penny Wars. Penny Wars are held each year to collect for a holiday charitable contribution to be made to a local needy person or family. The money this year went towards purchasing gifts for children on the Salvation Army Angel Tree.

To encourage contributions, jars are set aside and labeled with a faculty person’s name. The jars filling up the most and the least are the faculty who eventually get pie’d at this annual event. This year a total of $121.06 was raised for the kids.

In & Around Weaver

Dr. Chinn won the student raffle to pie a colleague and she choose a tentative Dr. Skaggs.

Receiving pies this year were Dr. Skaggs, Dr. Cheng, Dr. Shah, Dr. Chinn respectively.

Tractor Pull Fund RasingFund-raising is a necessary activity

in order to send the Bio&Ag tractor team to the ASABE event in Peo-ria Ill. This year the students raised funds by collecting donations while manning the Agricultural display at the State Fair, held a spring mower clinic, and served as tour guides at the Raleigh area Parade of Homes.

New this year, the students sold farm fresh sweetpotatoes for the holidays. Prior to Thanksgiving the students packed the boxes filling orders. The sales went so well that it will become a regular fund-raiser. Please think about ordering a box (about $8.00) for your winter holiday meals this Fall. To order check the ASABE Club page in early October. www.pack-pullers.com/.

Pictured above the students tune-up mowers brought in by homeowners for a $25 dollar fee.

The students are pasting labels on 5lb. boxes filled with sweetpotatoes and recipes sold for the holidays. Right the box label is shown.

10 – BAE Alumni & Friends

Best Practices and Best Management Practices (BMPs) are increasingly an integral part of how engineers approach their work on a day-to-day basis. Bio&Ag engineers, in particular, are highly focused on sustainability because agriculture depends on a healthy environment. In this article we present several examples of sustainable practices and how this department incorpo-rates Best Practices and BMPs into biological and agricultural engineering solutions. Detailed information on many of these practices can be found in extension publications at: www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Some Best Practices for waste reuse are centuries old and easy for the public to embrace like composting food scraps and yard waste to make soil conditioners. Increasingly municipalities, farms, busi-nesses and households are composting the organic portions of their waste streams. Rhonda Sherman, extension specialist, says that “Composting can be made easy using improved technologies” BMPs include addressing site placement, handling procedures, runoff, leachate, mix of materials, aeration/moisture and temperature controls.

Vermicomposting: It’s the practice of using earthworms to convert organic materials into a valuable soil amendment. Vermicomposting is at-tracting the interest of farmers, entrepreneurs, and householders worldwide. Earthworms can process animal manures, agricultural residues, food scraps,

paper products, yard debris, sewage sludge and other organics. BMPs in this area include proper choice of worm species, bedding materials, containment technology, ventilation, choice of feedstocks, feeding routine, and vermicompost harvesting.

Composting and vermicomposting are teachable, fun and rewarding for children. Vermicomposting with its wiggling critters engage youth and can be used to help them understand the importance of sustainability early on. For more information on these topics, go to www.bae.ncsu.edu/people/faculty/sherman/.

Aquaculture: A number of BMPs are being investigated to better man-age and utilize animal waste. One such practice is under development by Dr. Tom Losordo and involves fish waste treatment and fish biosecurity. The fact that fish have waste is not often thought about, but they do. Their waste contains nutrients which can be turned into a fertilizer amendment. While waste from fish grown in ponds is usually processed and assimilated within the ponds through natural processes, the waste of fish grown in confined tanks is more concentrated and could cause problems if it were released into the environment. At the NC State Fish Barn, best practices to assist private aquaculture fish farmers with industry issues like fish waste and biosecurity (prevention of fish escapement) are being tackled.

Maintaining good water quality in fish tanks is essential to the health of the fish. However, when the fish are fed, water quality in tanks becomes degraded by waste excreted from the fish. This solid and liquid waste con-taining both organic and inorganic particles needs to be

6

Practices Enhance Sustainability

In March, the Council for Agricul-tural Science and Technol-ogy, CAST, recognized Dr. Skaggs at a reception and Award Presen-tation held in Washington D.C.

Dr. Skaggs received the Charles A. Black Award for Communication which is pre-sented annually to an individual who has demonstrated outstand-ing achievement in his or her area of expertise within the agri-cultural, environmental, or food sciences sectors. Award recipients are recognized by their peers as individuals who communicate the importance of their scientific achievements to policy makers, news media, and the public.

CAST assembles, interprets, and communicates credible, science-based information re-gionally, nationally, and interna-tionally to legislators, regulators, policy makers, media, private sector, and the public.

This was the first time that this award was ever given to an engineer and it was an NCSU Biological and Agricultural engi-neer. Fantastic!

R. W. Skaggs

Dr. Skaggs Receives CAST Award

continued on page 7

Sherman talks with a worm conference attendee about types of worm bins.

Can you guess who won this years ASABE Golf tournamnet? Yep! they did it again. Drs. Burchell, Evans and Skaggs.

BAE Alumni & Friends – 11

treated and disposed of in an environmen-tally sensitive manner. At the Fish Barn, a series of filtration technologies are being tested to capture this waste and consist of mechanical filters, biological filters, oxygen contractors, and pumps to recondition the water on a continuous basis.

Best Practices being developed are built around a geotextile bag, that when used in conjunction with a special polymer, removes 99% of the solids in the water and wastewater stream. Currently, the North

Carolina NRCS has recognized this treatment process as a Best Practice for the treatment of “Fish Barn” waste. Additionally, because this treatment pro-cess can effectively stop the loss of even the smallest fish (larvae included) in the fish farm effluent, it has been recognized by the North Carolina Fisheries and Wildlife Commission as a Best Practice for biosecurity for intensive fish farms. For more information on aquaculture and aquacultural engineering go to: www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild/aquaculture/fish_barns/index.html

Bioenergy: The use of renewable energy sources on the farm is another sustainability issue being addressed with the development of best manage-ment practices related to the production, use, and storage of alternative fuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol. Many of theses alternative fuels can be produced from either dedicated energy crops, like sweet sorghum, or from agricultural wastes, like animal fats. The waste-to-fuel process is particularly of interest because it has the dual benefits of addressing environmental con-cerns while providing a renewable energy resource. Dr. Matthew Veal says, “Waste-to-fuel processes have practical applications today as tractors can op-erate on biodiesel produced from waste grease and biogas from hog lagoons can fuel electrical generators. In the future these systems will become more efficient increasing the number of applications and feedstocks that can be used to fuel them. It is foreseeable that many agricultural operations will be energy sufficient through utilization of their farm-produced resources.

Coastal Stormwater: Best Practices to improve water qual-ity are addressed at BAE regularly. Bio&Ag research has em-braced sand filter technology in a “Dune Infiltration System”. Sand dunes are currently being used as a filter for stormwater. Drs. Mike Burchell and Bill Hunt have developed a system that diverts stormwater that previously discharged onto the beach, into a series of open-bottomed chambers buried beneath the dune system. Two of these systems have been operational since 2006, and treat stormwater runoff from about 12 acres within the Town of Kure Beach. These systems have been monitored since, and show promise in reducing the amount of bacteria that discharges into the ocean following storm events. Less accumulation of

7

Faculty Newscontinued from page 3

Dr. Losordo and Denise DeLong unload a geo-tube of end-product.

continued from page 6

Practices Enhance Sustainability

continued on page 8

Before and after photos of Installation of the K avenue Dune Infiltration System at Kure Beach.

continued on page 8

Dr. Sanjay Shah was the win-ner of the Specialists’ Association “Special Specialist” Award for 2009.

Welcome to two new faculty members Drs. Kolar and Sim-mons.

Dr. Praveen Kolar, joined the department as an Assistant Profes-sor in August 2008. Dr. Kolar, a native of India, earned the PhD from University of Georgia and MS from Louisi-ana State University. Dr. Kolar’s research will focus on develop-ment and enhancement of waste management systems with an emphasis on the production of utilizable end products and bioenergy including reduction of odor and ammonia emis-sions. Dr. Kolar brought unique expertise and experience to this position in the area of catalytic

Praveen Kolar

12 – BAE Alumni & Friends 8

Faculty Newsbacteria makes the areas safer for swimmers, and protects tourism revenue. The system is performing so well that the NCDOT has funded a third system constructed near the Kure Beach Pier. This system will treat an additional 6 acres of stormwater runoff. Monitoring of these systems will continue until December of 2010. www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/kure-beach/

Landscape Irrigation: Historically, people have wa-tered lawns on set days of the week or even daily without regard to the weather or the water needs of turf and land-scape. Little guidance was available on how to program irrigation control clocks or on how to measure irrigation

system water application rates. This resulted in water use inefficiency which became critical during the 2007-2008 North Carolina drought.

Recently, “smart” irrigation tech-nologies have come onto the market. These technologies hold promise of more efficient irrigation and water conservation. Some of these technol-ogies use weather stations to predict irrigation water needs of landscape while others use sensors buried in the soil to help schedule irrigations. Many municipalities in North Carolina are interested in the effectiveness of these new technologies to help them in their water management and conservation efforts. Dr. Garry Grabow has recently been involved in studies which evaluate and compare these technologies and that implement these technologies in homeowner yards. www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/go_irrigation/irr_02.htm

Stream Restoration: A local example of a Best Practice for urban stream restoration is Rocky Branch, the creek running over a mile through campus and eventually draining into the Neuse River. The stream was narrow, deep, and suffering from severe erosion. NC Sea Grant and Bio&Ag are involved in a continuing three-phase stream restoration and greenway plan. The restora-

tion strives to stabilize the creek, improve water quality, enhance aquatic and wildlife habitat, and integrate the creek into the cam-pus environment. It will also be an outdoor laboratory and public demonstration site.

Natural channel design tech-niques are being used which allow the stream to meander through its floodplain. Rocky Branch will have 6000 ft. of greenway foot

Water pressure is checked as part of a homeowner irrigation system audit.

continued on page 11

continued on page 7

Dr. Jennings talks to students about some of the Best Practices used to restore a portion of Rocky Branch.

Practices Enhance Sustainability

Dr. Mike Burchell with recently planted dune in background.

Staff News LT Woodleaf received the

Bio&Ag Award for Excellence this year.

Graduate News Deepak Keshwani and Ziyu

Wang both won 1st place in the 2009 ASABE and Graduate Stu-dent Paper Competition in PhD and MS categories, respectively and Zifei Liu received 3rd place. In the Association of Oversees Ag. Bio. and Food Engineers graduate student papers Tian Shiying, won 2nd place and Zihan Cao 4th. Congratulations to all.

continued from page 7oxidation and ozonation kinet-ics which may become impor-tant pretreatment processes for producing cellulosic bioenergy and for dealing with agricultural emissions.

Otto Simmons is an Research Assistant Professor. He will be researching in the Microbiologi-cal area, conducting studies to determine the sources, fate, and transport of zoonotic pathogenic organisms in the environment.

Bio&Ag was well represented at the latest CALS Research Symposium with video presenta-tions by Drs. Boyette, Losordo, and Shah and live presentations by Drs. Spooner and Chinn. Three posters were displayed by Drs. Burchell, Chinn and Veal. Dr. Burchell’s poster on Ecosys-tem Restoration was awarded a cash prize for 3rd place in the poster competition.

BAE Alumni & Friends – 59

continued right column

continued from page 6In & Around WeaverGrad Action...

The Bio&Ag Graduate Stu-dent Association participated in the University GSA Canned Food Drive, Red Cross Blood Drive, and 4th An-nual graduate research symposium.

They helped the department host potential recruits, familiarizing prospective students with the depart-ment and faculty. Grads took recruits tailgating with BBQ then attended a basketball game: State vs Virginia… We Won!

Grad’s volunteered as counselors at the

NCDENR sponsored BugFest.

Grad’s enjoy a night out on the town proving they do clean-up nicely now and then. Social activities this year included a Kentucky

Derby watermelon, and Halloween costume parties plus a pig pickin’.

The past few years, the department has held an annual April Canoe Trip on the Neuse River which Dr. Boyette orga-nizes. The trips length is about six miles. The group stops for lunch along the way.

This year’s Annual Holi-day Party was very continental having a French flare. Bio&Ag’s new French import, Dr. François Birgand, wore the Santa suit. He flew throughout the room deliv-ering gifts as raffle tickets were called. In his glee, he mistook a table-top for a roof-top and the crowd was quite entertained.

Alumni; don’t miss this good time next year. Make a call in late November for the exact date.

There is nothing like old friends and a good meal for spreading joy.

In & Around

Student SocialThis Halloween, ASABE club students put their creativity to use carv-

ing these pumpkins. The club also held a welcome back cookout, holiday banquet, chile cook-off and an end of the year cookout.

Undergraduate Recruitment Efforts The undergraduate students

did a great job this year recruiting students. Students networked at the New Student Orientation, Wolfpack Welcome Week, University Organi-zation Fairs, CALS Tailgate, E-Week, University Open House, COE Open House and at Lacy Elementary Math and Science Night.

continued

continued on page 10

6 – BAE Alumni & Friends

Alumni Updates

10

Two Alumni returned to give seminars at Bio&Ag Dr. Michael Dukes, PhD, 2000 and Russell Merz, MS 1996.

Michael Dukes is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department. Dukes presented a seminar titled “Water Conservation Potential of Smart Ir-rigation Technologies”.

After his seminar presentation Mertz (Center, left) talks with Drs. Evans, Birgand and Chescheir respectively.

In June, Russell Mertz presented a seminar entitled “A World of Water Management Ex-periences”. He is well qualified to speak on the subject as Merz has nearly 20 years of experience with water management projects throughout the world.

Both presentations were well attended, interesting and infor-mative.

Dr. Mike Dukes draws a crowd to his talk.

Alumni dont’ forget to sign up for CALS Tailgate It’s Saturday, September 19, 2009. Register at www.cals.ncsu.edu/tailgate.

In & Around Weaver

continued on page 10

This year the Southeast Regional Rally was held at the University of Georgia. Above a team member races across the pool in a floating structure which was elegantly engineered from cardboard, plastic and lots of duck tape.

Students were eager to participate in the Undergraduate Seminar with lessons on time management, job searching in today’s climate, information about the graduate school experience and an internship networking session. Students also engaged department faculty to speak on engineering topics.

ASABE Pre Professional Experiences...

Stream Clean-up Students once again partici-

pated in Service Raleigh activities. The student chapter of the Ameri-can Water Resources Association (AWRA) got busy cleaning-up the litter that finds its way into Rocky Branch.

Technically, Weaver’s Pavil-ion area was spruced-downed looking quite different for this year’s spring graduation. It had a much brighter and open feel with new grass and shrubs replacing older, overgrown evergreens.

It was quite the project re-moving 50 year old stumps and replenishing soil. (Right) Dr. Evans drives the bobcat in his suit. He couldn’t just stand by and watch all the action.

Other building improve-ments included handicap ramps and hall lighting to improve energy efficiency.

Sprucing-Up Weaver...

BAE Alumni & Friends – 7

continued

11

continued from page 6

continued next column

Practices Enhance Sustainability

The Competition Results...The 1/4 scale tractor competition is a

competitive event which provides a tremen-dous hands-on opportunity for students. Building the tractor while attending classes full-time is a major accomplishment.

NCSU/Bio&Ag finished 10th overall out of 23 schools and did very well in the perfor-mance component of the event. Although the performance event is the main component, a written design report, team presentation, maneuverability, and static design judg-ing are other aspects of the competition.

As in the past, AET and BE students worked together throughout the year to make this happen. A total of 8 (4 AET, 4 BE) students traveled to Peoria. They are excited about next year and are rais-ing the bar to finish even better. The 1/4-scale team would like to thank the department for all the support this year. A special thanks to the research shop for all the work they provided helping fabricate this year’s vehicle. The students this year took video. See all the action yourself at: www.bae.ncsu.edu/news/news-flash/

The Quarter Scale team also partici-pated in Engineering Days 2009 near the Legislative Building and Legislative Office Building in Raleigh. Engineering Days is an annual event sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies of N.C. (ACEC/NC). It highlights the leadership role that engineering plays in the present and future prosperity of our state. The tractor was on display for members of the General Assembly and the public.

2009 team front row, Club advisor Grant Ellington, Nick Rizzon, Adam Cox, Brandon Batten Back. Row: Tristan Lasell, Prescott Hill, Chris Pless, John Long, Ryan Langley. Other team members not shown: Chris Cook, John Graham, Natalie Gurkin, Tony Katsaros, Chris Lawrence and Matt Veal, an advisor not shown.

path installed allowing people and wildlife to move freely below a major thoroughfare. The greenway connects to a city park and extends the City of Raleigh Greenway System. Interpretative signs explain various restoration concepts along the way. www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/wqg/srp/rocky_branch.html

Stormwater Management: With increasing urban populations, pollution and waste problems from suburbs and cities are of growing concern. Dr. Bill

Hunt has developed information providing best practices for urban stormwater runoff for homeown-ers, communities, business, and municipalities. Best Management Practices include bioretention areas, green roofs, stormwater wetlands, permeable pavements, water harvesting systems, temper-ature impacts, mosquito control, and a new area being addressed low-impact development. Infor-mation about these are at: www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/ and www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/lid/

Bio&Ag engineers are applying innovative technology to develop and evaluate many best practices and BMPs. Today, new technolo-gies such as GPS, GIS, satellite imaginary, and remote sensing are being used to help evaluate multiple information sources to better understand and manage agro-ecosystems.

The innovative projects dis-cussed herein are just a sample of the departmental efforts to dem-onstrate best practices and BMPs that more efficiently utilize bio-logical and agricultural systems while preserving and enhancing natural resources. Please visit the departmental web sites to learn more about these projects as well as others underway.

Practices

Legislators show an interest in the NCSU tractor.

A pumpkin design was created by Dr. Gary Roberson using GPS technologies.

8 – BAE Alumni & Friends

College of Agriculture and Life SciencesDepartment of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Campus Box 7625 Raleigh, NC 27695-7625

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Raleigh, NC PERMIT No. 2353

Name Curriculum

Spring 2009 Grads

View more graduation pictures at: www.bae.ncsu.edu/news/

Graduating students and alumni have the opportunity to purchase a brick in the CALS walkway. To learn more see www.cals.ncsu.edu/advancement/walk_champions.htm

Gray, Amanda ..................................AETDuvernay, William ..........................MSEllington, Grant ..............................PhDJones, Matthew ................................PhDLenhart, Hayes ................................MS Loyd, Garrett ...................................AETMartin, Jerry ....................................MSPekarek, Kathryn ............................MSSkipper, Gabrielle ............................MSSmith, Michael ................................BEWang, Ziyu .......................................MSYang, Ying ........................................MSYunker, Cyrus ..................................MBAE

Allen, Elizabeth ..............................BEAlston, Brittany ................................BEBadawi, Stephen ..............................BEBraman, Sara ...................................BEBrim, Ruth .......................................BEBrown, Robert ..................................MBAECameron, Paul .................................BECannady, Parker ..............................AETClements, Benjamin .......................BECockman, Stephen ..........................BECunningham, Verd ..........................BEDay, Jared .........................................AETDennis, Weston ................................AET Ferguson, Ronald ............................MBAEGraham, Jonathan ...........................BE Hinkle, Jonathan .............................MBAEHollowell, Matthew ........................AETHorstman, Marc ..............................BEHurlocker, Zachary .........................BE Jarzemsky, Robert ............................MS Keshwani, Deepak ..........................PhDLawrence, Christopher ...................AETLove, Christopher............................BEMatroni-Rakes, Maureen ................BEMbaneme, Veronica .........................BE

Fall 2008 GradsName Curriculum McClees, Lolita ...............................BE

McNeill, John ..................................BE Roberts, Jessica .................................MSStuckey, Joseph ................................AETVick Jr., Robert .................................BEWhite, Christopher .........................AET Yao, Haiyan ......................................MS