Download pdf - Summer 2012 NCSU BAE Alumni and Friends Newsletter

BAE Alumni & Friends – 1

Summer 2012

“We Bring Engineering to Life”

Dr. James Jones was selected the 2011 Biological and Agricultural Engineering Outstanding Alumnus Award Recipient. Dr. Jones is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida and Director of the Florida Climate Institute. Dr. Jones received his PhD in BAE from NCSU in 1975 under the direction of the late Dr. Henry Bowen and Dr. Robert Sowell. Jim received his BS in Agricultural Engineering from Texas Tech in 1967 and MS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Mississippi State in 1971. Jim spent 10 years with

USDA-ARS as a Research Engineer concurrently with 2 years as an Affiliate Assistant Professor at Mississippi State before joining the Agricultural Engi-neering Department at the University of Florida as an Associate Professor in 1977.

Dr. Jones is internationally recognized as a leader in the development and application of biological models for agricultural systems. He is the princi-pal architect of the Decision Support Systems for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), which combines physical and biological models for 26 crops with data bases and software tools for application by scientists, engineers, clima-tologists, and economists to address problems critical to agricultural produc-tion, water usage, and environmental impact. The DSSAT system of models has been used extensively in over 100 countries worldwide and provides the basis for approximately 75% of the na-tional and international studies to assess impacts of climate and climate change on crops and soils.

Dr. Jones and colleagues have been innovative in applying these models to evaluate the effectiveness of alterna-tive production systems for responding to changes in climate as well as other important issues such as sequestering soil carbon and incorporating genetics to optimize plant breeding for target climates and soil conditions. Well over

Jones 2011 Outstanding Alumnus

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

Charles Suggs

andLUMNI

friendsADr. Wayne Yuan

is the newest mem-ber of the faculty hired January, 2012. Yuan is an associ-ate professor in the area of bioenergy and bioproducts. He received his Ph.D.

degree in Agricultural and Biolog-ical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005. He came to us from the University of Kansas BAE depart-ment where he taught for 5 years.

His primary research focus is on issues and needs related to bio-logical/engineering systems that produce, process, or utilize agri-cultural commodities and other biologically based materials for

Dr. Wayne Yuan is the new-est member of the BAE faculty joining NCSU as an Associ-ate Professor Janu-ary, 2012. Dr. Yuan received his PhD

in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005 and came to NC State by way of Kansas State.

Dr. Yuan’s teaching and research is in the broad area of renewable energy engineering. His major research focus will be investigating microalgae for biofuels and bio-products. He will also investigate novel tech-niques and systems for separation of biochemicals and biofuels at various processing stages utilizing technologies critical to effective downstream processing of biologi-cally based products.

Dr. Yuan’s appointment is unique in that his position is the first tenure track appointment in the department funded entirely by the College of Engineering. Wel-come to NC State, Dr. Yuan!

Wayne Yuan

Dr. Mari Chinn was the 2011 recipi-ent of the ASABE, A.W. Farrall Young Educator Award. The award honors

Mari Chinn

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2 – BAE Alumni & Friends

Greetings from Raleigh! It is a pleasure to pres-ent the 2012 edition of the BAE Alumni and Friends Newsletter.

The department continues to provide excellent undergraduate and graduate educational opportunities with programs that remain ranked in the top ten by US News. Enrollment continues to climb, but out of ne-cessity, we have slowed the rate of growth. New matric-ulation criteria adopted by the College of Engineering take effect with the incoming freshmen class. We are

hopeful that this will help stabilize enrollment. Our 2015 goal is to stabilize undergraduate enrollment at 250 undergraduates (down from the 2011 record of 326). Graduate enrollment is expected to be around 75 students this fall, down slightly from the 2011 record high of 82 students. Over the year we graduated 55 BEs, 21 AETs, 6 MBAEs, 19 MS and 6 PhDs – Dr. Todd Guerdat, Dr. Qianfeng Li, Dr. Trisha Moore, Dr. Lamyaa Negm, Dr. Ziyu Wang, and Dr. Jason Zink. I am also pleased to announce that 3 BAE undergraduates - Joshua Clemmons, Daniel Snyder, and Cameron Wilson, were NCSU valedictorians with perfect 4.0 GPAs. Congratulations gradu-ates.

Financially, it was a challenging year. The NC Legislature made sig-nificant reductions in funding for the UNC system. When the fog finally lifted, the BAE budget was reduced by 15% or nearly $700,000. By filling some of the gap with grant funds, we have been able to retain most of our personnel. Even under the difficult economic conditions, external grant success continued to be strong which is a testament to the relevance that our programs are viewed by our clientele and supporters.

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Jim Jones, PhD 1975, was named the 2011 Outstanding BAE alumnus. Dr. Mohamed Youssef was promoted to associate professor with tenure. On a less celebratory note, Dr. Wayne Skaggs and Dr. Tom Losordo announced their retirements after 42 and 24 years, respectively. Please read more about these and other faculty, staff and student recognitions and activities throughout the newsletter.

Department Head’s Comments

Robert Evans

Visit Bio&Ag on the web at: www.bae.ncsu.edu Fax comments & questions to: Bio&Ag News at 919-515-6772

Department Head Dr. Robert EvansWriter/Graphics Carolyn Mitkowski

Advisor Dr. Greg Jennings

Bio&Ag Alumni & Friends is an annual publication of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Box 7625,

Raleigh, NC 27695-7625.

Alumni contributions to the next issue of Bio&Ag Alumni&Friends, are always welcome. Please send your contributions to Dr. Evans at the address above or email:

[email protected] or [email protected].

Request for Nominations for 2012 Outstanding Alumnus Award are due August 1st. Since 2005, The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has recognized an Outstanding Alumnus Award for each department in CALS. If you would like to nominate someone for the 2012 award, request a nomination form from Betsy Maness at 919-515-2694.

The nominees must have received a degree from NCSU and should have a record of service to their profession, com-munity, industry, and/or to NC State, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the BAE department. The nomination should explain why the nominee deserves the award. The award recipient will be recognized on October 5th with a BAE depart-mental reception and also at the CALS Alumni Awards reception.

Call for Nominations

Summer 2012

Outstanding Alumnus Award ..............................1 Faculty News .....................1 Department Head’s Comments .......................2 Dr. R.W. Skaggs & Dr. T. Losordo Retire ...................3 Spring Banquet .................5 Advisory Board and In & Around Weaver ..................6 ASABE Rally & Club News ..................................8 Recruiting Displays & Grad Action ................................9 Stikeleather Recoginition & ASABE Competition .......11 Graduation Listing ...........12

In this issue


Dr. Richard Wayne Skaggs, William Neal Reynolds and Distinguished University Professor has announced his retirement effective June 30th after 42.5 years on the BAE faculty. Dr. Skaggs made extraordinary contribu-tions to the advancement of Agricultural and Biological Engineering as a teacher, mentor, researcher, and na-tional leader. He is recognized globally as the expert in drainage and subsurface water management.

Skaggs was born and reared on a farm in eastern Kentucky. He at-tended the University of Kentucky where he received the BS and MS degrees in Agricultural Engineering in 1964 and 1966. He joined NC State University in 1970 after earning his PhD from Purdue University. Skaggs advanced quickly through the ranks to Professor before being named Wil-liam Neal Reynolds Professor in 1984. He was also elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1991, and named Distinguished University Professor that same year. N.C. State presented Skaggs its highest faculty recognition in 1994, the Alexander Quarles Holladay Award; and in 1997,

Tom Losordo Retires after 24 Years at NCSU

continued page 11

continued from page 1

1500 researchers and practitioners worldwide have been trained to use the DSSAT models. As an author or co-author of over 290 publications, a search of science direct for citations that refer to DSSAT and its component models returns over 34,000 journal citations and 1800 book citations, by far the most widely cited of all cropping system models. Dr. Jones and his team have made tremendous positive impacts on food production globally and on our ability to assess the impacts of climate change on agricultural sustainability.

The significance of Dr. Jones’ work has been acknowledged through his advanced rank at the University of Florida, through the careers of many scientists he has trained; 21 gradu-ate students and 18 post docs men-tored; and through numerous awards and honors. He is an elected Fellow of 3 Professional Societies - ASABE, SSSA, and ASA; has been recognized by 4 international awards; received 3 superior paper awards and was elected to the National Academy of Engineers earlier this year. Dr. Jones and his wife Jean married in 1966; have 3 daughters (Joanna, Janene, and Jennifer) and 7 grandchildren. Dr. Jones retired from the University of Florida Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department in February, 2011.

Jones Outstanding Alumnus

Tom Losordo

A sizeable crowd turned out to congratulate Dr. Jones.

Dr. Wayne Skaggs Retires June 30th.

Wayne Skaggs

continued page 4

Dr. Losordo has been a research and extension engineer at NCSU for a little under 24 years, with the last 10 years working in the BAE department. In this department, he held the position of extension leader for 4 years and additionally, worked for the University of North Carolina General Administration as a faculty advisor for military affairs for two years.

Losordo is internationally recog-nized for his work in aquaculture having made significant contribu-tions in the area of indoor recircu-lating aquaculture technology. He has been the main force behind NC States’s well known Lake Wheeler Road Fish Barn, a research and demonstration facility for recirculat-ing fish tank farming. Losordo also served as Principal Investigator of the Marine Aquaculture Research Center near Morehead City, and was also a Co-PI on behalf of the College of Ag. and Life Sciences for the development of the LaPaz Sturgeon facility in Happy Valley, North Carolina.

His research developments in this area have brought substan-tial improvements to operational methods and equipment design which are now used widely in the industry. Dr. Losordo and his team have provided essential technical assistance to established indoor tank-based aquaculture farm busi-nesses and assisted with many new startups helping to support the development of new businesses in North Carolina.

His strong relationships with the aquaculture industry has been

Save the date November 9th, 2012 for Dr. Skaggs Retirement Func-tion. Information will be posted on the BAE web in the news section this October. We hope that many of you will come to wish Dr. Skaggs a wonderful retirement.


he received the University of North Carolina’s highest award, the O. Max Gardner Award. Skaggs also received the Alexander von Hum-boldt award for contributions to U.S. agricul-ture in 1997, one of only two engineers to ever receive that award.

During his professional career, Skaggs made pioneering contributions to the un-derstanding and utilization of complex soil, water, and plant systems. His work includes

the 1978 development of the water man-agement model, DRAINMOD, which effectively combines fundamental meth-ods derived over several decades by soil physicists and engineers to create a tool that quantitatively relates drainage design parameters to the actual objective of the water management system. This model has effectively bridged the gap that existed between theory and practice and is now used globally by consulting engineers, researchers and government agencies to predict the performance of drainage and related water management systems. The model has been extended by Skaggs, his students, and colleagues to predict the movement and fate of nitrates, salts and

other solutes in the soil profile; to evaluate and assess the hydrology of wetlands; and most recently to predict soil carbon, nitrogen dynamics, and plant growth in drained forests and agricultural ecosystems.

Dr. Skaggs has made contributions to international development of agricultural water management and hy-drology. He has held short-term research, teaching and consulting positions in 10 countries (e.g., Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Turkey), and presented invited lectures and keynote addresses in many others. The research project he initiated in Uruguay on hydrologic impacts of afforestation is ongoing and was recently expanded to include bio-energy crops.

A dedicated professor who has exemplified the highest spirit of teaching and mentorship, Skaggs has served as major profes-sor for 24 masters and 40 doctoral students who have gone on to highly success-

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Graduate Fellowships

Erin Bennett — College of Engineering Graduate Merit Award

Kathy DeBusk — College of Engineer-ing Dean’s Doctoral Fellowship and University Graduate Fellowship

Adrienne Cizek — STAR Fellowship

Corinne Dumonceau — College of En-gineering Graduate Merit Award

Randall Etheridge — National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow-ship

Mark Fernandez — College of Engineer-ing Graduate Merit Award

Veronica Mbaneme — National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow-ship

Laura Merriman — National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow-ship

continued page 6

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Undergraduate Scholarship

Jason Barlow — E.J. Tyson Scholarship

Dustin Brann — NC Section of ASABE, T. Newton and Josephine Cook Scholar-ships

Allison Harriett — Charles L. and Samuel D. Davis Scholarship

Travis Garrett — Fred G. Bond Tobacco Scholarship

Miranda Kay Harper — Jane P. & Charles W. Suggs Scholarship

Benjamin Hobson — Fred G. Bond Tobacco Scholarship

Kelly Hughes — Colonel and Mrs. Wil-liam H. Breeze Agricultural Scholarship

Alyssa Koehler — E.J. Tyson Scholarship

John Langdon — NC Section of ASABE Scholarship

Thomas Lineberger — Olaf and Rosa Wakefield Scholarship

John Norwood — I.O. Schaub Scholar-ship

Daniel Snyder — Park Scholarship

Dr. Wayne Skaggs Retires

continued on page 10


Dr. Skaggs stands between (left)Dr. Jan van Bakel and (right) Dr. Lodewijk Stuyt from the University of Wageningen/Alterra, Centre for Water and Climate, Wageningen, Netherlands. In November, 2011 they presented a special seminar to the faculty in thanks to Dr. Skaggs for his work and assistance in the area of water management.

Dr. Skaggs stands in a new pine forest planted which is part of the afforestation project in Uruguay.

Above, Dr. Skaggs in the field evaluat-ing the progress of a project with Dr. Youssef.


The 2012 Student Banquet was held at the JC Raulston Arboretum at the Ruby McSwain Education Center on April 26th 2012. This event celebrates the achievements and contributions of our undergraduate and graduate stu-dents. Attending were students, parents, faculty, staff, BAE scholar donors, and several advisory board members. The evening hors d’oeuvres were served under the grape vine arbor with live music provided by the son of Dr. J. Classen. The group moved into the dining room to enjoy an excellent buffet and dessert table. Scholarship donors were seated with their recipients. BAE’s donors attending this year were Charles Suggs, Ron and Shelby Sneed and Bill and Glenda John-son. Advisory board members attending were Rebec-ca Silverstein, Ray Best, Dr. Adel Shirmohammadi, Cindy Karoly, Paul Sherman, and Bharat Vedak.

As dinner concluded, student Kathryn Ann Berry introduced the guest speaker, Dr. Richard Reich, Assis-tant Commissioner, N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. He spoke about N. C. Agri-culture and how it has changed through the years. He pointed out some interesting statistics highlighting some of these changes.

Twenty two undergraduate scholarship recipients were named along with eight graduate student fel-lowships. The undergraduate and graduate achieve-ments were announced and attendees received certificates.

Recapping club events and highlights of the year were Brad Wardynski of the Graduate Student As-sociation, Kathryn Ann Berry, Student Branch of ASABE, and Spencer Davis of the Pack-Pullers.

Student Spring Banquet

Dr. Richard Reich, Assistant Commissioner,

N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

gives the keynote address.

Emeritus professor Charles Suggs presents the Charles W. and Jane P. Suggs Scholarship Endowment to, (right to left) Miranda Kay Harper, Matthew Hinson, Zachary Lentz, and (not shown) Ashley Mendenhal.

Undergraduate Scholarship

Cameron Wilson — Progress Energy College of Engineering Scholarship

Katy Mazer — James Bagwell Scholar-ship

Joshua Clemmons — J.C. & Nancy Fer-guson Scholarship,

Kaitlyn Cranford — Barbara and George Blum Scholarship

Kaitlyn Tucker — NC Section ASABE Scholarship

Nicholas Lannon — NC Section of ASABE Scholarship

Matthew Hinson — Jane P. & Charles W. Suggs Scholarship

Zachary Lentz — Jane P. & Charles W. Suggs Scholarship

Ashley Mendenhall — Jane P. & Charles W. Suggs Scholarship

William T. Pluer — Ronald E. Sneed NC Irrigation Society Scholarship, Caldwell Fellow


u Veronica Mbaneme

ACAAGS 2012 Academic Achievement Award

u Tiffany Messer

2011 Graduate Student Professional Development Workshop Participant

u Ziyu Wang

2011 Graduate Student Professional Development Workshop Participant

Graduate Achievements

Sarah Bucher College of Engineering Ambassador

Emily Darr College of Engineering Ambassador

Megan Fruchte Undergraduate Research Symposium

Winner

J Brianne Long College of Engineering Ambassador

Kaitlyn Tucker BAE Citizenship and Service Award

Cameron Wilson BAE Scholarly Achievement

Daniel Snyder BAE Humanities Award

Joshua Clemmons BAE Leadership Award

Katy Mazer College of Engineering Faculty Senior Scholarship Nominee

Spencer Davis ASABE Student Honor Award

Undergraduate Achievements

Dr. Boyette socializes with student Spencer Davis and his parents.

Emeritus professor Ron Sneed presents William Pluer the Ronald Sneed Irrigation Society Scholarship.


In & Around Weaver LabsDepartment Fall Ice Cream Social... Last year, we had a record turnout for the fall ice cream social with our highest student enrollment. This year, we added 31 new students and beat last year’s record of attendance for this social.

Left to right are graduate student Beth Allen, emeritus faculty member Dr. Mike Franklin, Dr. Wayne Skaggs and Veronica Mabaneme. Veronica and Beth popped into every picture and brought out smiles, engaging faculty and fellow students to join in on some photo fun.

Scooping ice cream from left to right are research professionals Burt Halbert and Craig Baird, students Veronica and Beth, extension specialist Mark Rice, and in the background staffer, Chrissie Shepard.

This year, three board members have concluded their terms on the Advisory Board. They are Mr. Swan-son Graves, President and CEO of Reddick Equipment Company, Inc.; Mr. Don G. Lee, CPESC Head, Roadside Environmental Unit N.C. DOT; Dr. David Peele, President and CEO of Avoca, Inc., and Mr. JD Fish, Manager of Field Equipment and Application Technology Marketing Depart-ment, Bayer CropScience Our many thanks to them for taking the time to serve. New members this term are:

Dr. Kurt Creamer, Con-nectivity Manager, Novozymes North America, facilitates exter-nal R&D collaborations, partners with government and academic laboratories, and seeks support and grants for Novozymes’ R&D efforts for the development of enzymes used in the production of cellulosic biofuels.

Mr. Larry F. Graham is President and owner of Environ-mental Engineering Services, a private engineering consulting firm operating in Aberdeen, NC. His company specializes in both agricultural engineering and civil engineering projects.

Ms. Cyndi Karoly, Man-ager, Stormwater and Wetlands Branch, Division of Water Qual-ity, NCDENR.

Mr. Bharat Vedak is Vice President, Technology Center India and Deliver Customer ValueDeere & Company, which efficiently develops and delivers products and services to its global customer base.

The board term is 2013-15.

Advisory Board


Chili Cook-off...

Staffer Chrissie Shepard smiles as students Brad Wardynski and Laura Merriman give the cooks a thumbs up.

Erin Bennett showing off

her choice of chili.

The faculty makes sure they don’t miss a hot bowl of chili at this crowd pleasing social.

In & Around Weaver LabsDepartment Winter Holiday Activities...

Above, people line up to taste a few hot dishes prepared by Dr. Evans for the Department Head’s Holiday Open House. Below are full tables at the Holiday Luncheon.

The gift exchange held at the holiday luncheon is always full of interesting re-gifts and gag gifts. Dr. Bowers’ wife, took home a nice candle and Dr. Jennings is all smiles over a Farmall tractor puzzle. Former shop supervisor, Robert Gains, got a handy engineering repair kit of duct tape and string.


NCSU E-Week is great fun for all the engineering students. Students participate in a week long scavenger hunt, presenting teams with a giant inflatable obstacle course to conquer on the Centennial Oval, an and Amazing Race, test your limits. Then there is an engineering decathlon challenging students to complete engineering and design tasks with simple materials. The Design-A-Thon tested students’ abilities to work in teams. During the week, an alumni reception let students mingle and network.

An obviously good time was had by ASABE club bowlers.

Student ASABE Club ActivitiesThe ASABE club hosted a welcome back cookout, an etiquette dinner

to prepare students for employment interviews that take place over a meal, and scheduled a meeting to learn about LinkedIn a professional network-ing site. Members also attended NCSU E-Week and the Southeastern Regional Rally. Service projects included a food bank can drive and rocky branch stream clean-up. For social activities, students bowled, ice skated and went canoeing/kayaking.

Above, customers pick up their order of NC sweet potatoes. In the background, a rotating slide show showcased the history of the sweet potato, and methods of harvesting. Other fund-raising activities included, an antique farm machinery exhibit, at the State Fair and a lawn mower clinic, shown below.

Students get a IinkedIn lesson where they learn how to post their professional profiles and resumes on line and network with professionals.

Virginia Tech RallyEleven students and advisors

Drs. Burchell and Hale attended the Southeastern Regional Rally held at Virginia Tech Uni-versity. On the agenda was a din-ner social, career fair, business meeting, faculty lectures, and a Virginia Tech campus tour.

The students where given an hour long tour of VT’s StREAM lab by Bio System Engineering faculty and students. Below, students are touring VT’s campus and some of the streets in Blacksburg, Va.

Rocky Branch clean-up service project.

First row: Minell Enslin, Kaelin Saul, Kathryn Ann Berry, Brandon Miller, Spencer Davis, Second row: Natasha Tinsley, Alex Jones, Ben Mills, Brantly Braswell ,Clay Campbell, Zack Souther, and advisor Andy Hale. Taking the photo was advisor Mike Burchell.

Students enjoy a game of volleyball during the fall cookout.


Six faculty members, fifteen undergraduates (including 2 ASABE student club officers), and three graduate students from the Bio&Ag Engi-neering department participated in the NC State College of Engineering Open House. Over 100 potential undergraduates and their parents visited our indoor and outdoor displays. Visitors to the indoor booth collected departmental literature, spoke directly with faculty and cur-rent students, and learned about the ASABE society. On the flat screen, visitors could view a video presentation of students and faculty in action to gain an understanding of what Bio&Ag engineers do, and the potential careers that are possible.

Jiele Xu clears bushes on a GSA service project at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences-Prairie Ridge Ecostation. The station has 45 acres of Piedmont prairie, forest, stream and ponds. It also features sustainable building design. www.naturalsciences.org/prairie-ridge-ecostation

Above, Kathryn Berry, Minell Enslin and John Scott stand in front of our new 7 ft. retractable recruiting displays and flat screen at the NC State College of Engineering Open House. The students are ready to talk with potential students. The new recruiting items were purchased with the help of an ASABE Mini-Grant that Dr. Burchell worked to secure.

Recruiting with New Displays...

Bio&Ag’s outdoor demonstrations were positioned at the lobby entrance doors of the NCSU campus open house. Above, Dr. Francois Birgand demonstrates hydraulic principles with a flume to potential students and their parents, flanked by one of our new tear-drop displays advertising our department. The new displays were also used at graduation adding to the festivity of the occasion.

Bio&Ag’s departmental entry into last year’s ASABE ¼ scale tractor competition was a hit with students and parents alike, and spurred discussion about the area of machine systems.

Grad Action...Graduate students took part in

an international pot luck dinner, Chinese New Year celebration, a service Raleigh project, and had some fun playing trivia and par-ticipating in campus recreational intramural basketball.

The Chinese New Year celebration feast.


ful and productive careers. He has served as technical consultant on drain-age and water management issues for numerous state and federal agencies and foreign governments. He has authored or coauthored more than 420 refereed journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, extension publications, and technical reports, as well as 2 books. He co-edited (with Jan van Schilfgaarde) the American Society of Agronomy, a 1328 page, 42-chapter monograph, Agricultural Drainage, which serves internationally as a principal reference for drainage theory and practice. Among Skaggs’s many significant publications are those that have won 7 ASAE Paper awards, with the most recent being named in May of this year, and 3 ASAE Honor-able Mention Paper awards. He has been invited to share his expertise and research findings at hundreds of invited lectures and keynote addresses.

In addition to those already named, Skaggs has received numerous na-tional and international recognitions of his meritorious contributions to the advancement of soil and water engineering. These include the ASAE Young Researcher and Hancor Soil and Water Engineering Awards; 3 USDA Su-perior Service awards; membership in The Ohio State University’s Over-holt Drainage Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky Engineering Hall of Distinction, and Purdue University Distinguished Engineering Alumnus. He was presented the Gamma Sigma Delta International Distinguished Achievement in Agriculture award (1999), and the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) Charles A Black award in 2009. Wayne is a Fellow of ASABE, and has received two ASABE Gold Medal Awards, the John Deere Gold Medal (1993), and the Massey Ferguson Educational Gold Medal (2009). Skaggs served as President of the ASAE for 2001/2002.

Dr. Skaggs attributes his well awarded research and teaching successes to the great people he has been fortunate enough to have taught, mentored, worked with, and to those he has met in his professional life and in his research travels. He is very thankful to this department and university which have allowed him to pur-sue his research interests with a passion. He also can’t leave out how blessed he was to have been the recipient of good mentoring by his childhood teachers in Elliott County, Kentucky and the professors at the Univer-sity of Kentucky and Purdue.

By entering a three-year period of phased (half-time) retirement, Wayne will continue his affiliation with BAE, NCSU and AS-ABE, but will be devoting more time to his wife Judy, children Becky and Steve, and his 6 grandchildren, Sarah, Ben and Sam Ramsey, and Luke, Susanna, and David Skaggs. Wayne has been a cornerstone of this department for over 40 years. His vision, leadership and calming influ-ence will be missed; but, BAE extends warmest congratu-latory wishes to Wayne and his family for a long, healthy retirement. Salute!

Dr. Wayne Skaggs Retires continued from page 4

outstanding leadership contribu-tions to educating future agri-cultural and biological engineers through teaching, research, and professional service.

Dr. Chinn was recognized for her strong record of leader-ship in curriculum development, student recruitment, advising, and mentoring of students. The citation noted that “Her high level of dedication and motiva-tion, natural leadership skills, and gregarious personality make her one of the best and brightest educators of the current agricul-tural and biological engineering profession.” In addition to teach-ing, Dr. Chinn has provided leadership for the development and management of the BAE bioprocessing laboratory. Con-gratulations, Dr. Chinn!

Dr. Greg Jennings , P.E., received an Outstanding Lead-ership Award at the biennial

Southern Region Water Confer-ence in Athens, GA. which was held September 13-16, 2011. The award was given for his work with

Watershed Education for Com-munities and Officials (WECO). WECO works with communities to build capacity for collabora-tive water resource management within North Carolina.

Dr. Wayne Skaggs, P.E., The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences presented its 2011 Resource Development Awards

Greg Jennings

continued page 11

Faculty News continued from page 1

Dr. Skaggs with his wife and family.


Dr. Larry Stikeleather, PE, was honored at the 22nd Annual NCSU Celebration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The luncheon was held at the Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center November 22, 2011. The University celebrated 47 U.S. patents issued in FY2011. Stikeleather, along with Dr. Bill Roberts (Mechanical and Aerospace Engr.), Dr. Henry Lamb (Chemical and Biomolecular Engr.), and Mr. Tim Turner (Permafuels Inc.), were recognized for U.S. Patent 7,816,570 Process for Conversion of Biomass to Fuel. This patent covers processes for making “drop-in” trans-portation fuels (diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, etc.) from renewable lipid feed-stocks such as vegetable oils, animal fats, and algal oil. The research was funded by the NC Biofuels Center.

The patent has been licensed to Avjet Biotech Inc., which has launched a new company called Red Wolf Refining. Red Wolf Refining is one of four new startup companies growing out of NCSU Research in 2011. In addi-tion to the U.S. patent the team has numerous foreign patents pending. Dr. Stikeleather has received 12 US patents during his career to date and has filed two new patent disclosures in 2011.

Stikeleather Honored for Patent

Team Picture: Front row, left to right: Cameron Wilson, Lowden Kerns, John Langdon, Teekie Majors, Spencer Davis, TiEra Worsley. Back row, left to right: Clay Campbell, Nathanael Morgan, Randall Godfrey, Jordan Boyette, Anthony Tasselli, Travis Garrett, John Norwood, Garrett Melvin.

Gearing Up for the CompetitionThe ¼-Scale tractor design is an annual student competition event orga-

nized by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers to provide students with the opportunity to apply engineering fundamentals and gain real-world hands-on design experience. Students involved also develop communication, leadership, and teamwork skills. A written design report, team presentation, static design judging, vehicle maneuverability and performance are the five main categories teams are judged on.

The 2011-12 Pack Pullers tractor team has 14 students from both the BAE and AET programs. Team members work throughout the school year designing and obtaining system components, fabricating, and writing a design report. Special events such as CALS Tailgate and the NC State Fair are attended to provide fund raising and recruiting opportunities for the department. The competition is May 30th – June 3rd this year to compete with 27 Agricultural Engineering and Technology programs from across the U.S. and Canada.

A CAD view of the 1/4

scale tractor design.


Dr. Losordo Retires

Staff News Carolyn Mitkowski, depart-

ment graphic artist, received the 2012 Bio&Ag SPA Award.

sponsored by the N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc. Awards recognize CALS faculty and student organiza-tions for efforts in raising funds to benefit College programs, as well as volunteer, corporate/founda-tion and commodity organization support activities. Dr. Skaggs’ award was for his “Outstanding Effort and Achievement in the Area of Private Resource Devel-opment.”

Dr. Mike Boyette, P.E., re-ceived the 2011-2012 Outstand-ing BAE Professor Award. This award is given by Bio&Ag students in recogni-tion of a professor’s special efforts. The award was pre-sented at Spring graduation.

Faculty News continued from page 11

Wayne Skaggs

Mike Boyette

instrumental in bringing over $5 M in monetary and aquaculture facility bequeaths to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

We thank Tom for his service to NCSU’s aquaculture programs and the states’s aquaculture industry.


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 2012 Grads

Bailey, Beth .....................................................AET Britton, Alexander ..........................................AET Buchanan, Christopher .................................AETGeenen ,Michael ............................................MSHarper, Miranda.............................................BEHarris, Jr., Rodney ..........................................AET Hawley, Joseph ...............................................AETHood, Matthew ..............................................MS Horstman, Marc .............................................MSJairam, Suguna ...............................................MS Jonas, Brittany ................................................AETKnight, Erica ..................................................MSLiang, Wei-Zhen ............................................MS Love, Rodney ..................................................AETMbaneme, Veronica ........................................MSMoore, Trisha ..................................................PhDNegm, Lamyaa ...............................................PhDRoberts, Jr., William .......................................AETSmith, Brad .....................................................BE Stewart, Jana ...................................................MS Stillwell ,Geoffrey ...........................................MS Theodossiou, Patrick......................................AETWang, Bingqing ..............................................MS Westmoreland, Matthew ................................AET Wiseman, Jacob ..............................................MS Zhou, Xu ........................................................MS

Albert, Jason ..................................................BEBaratam, Priyanka ..........................................BEBarefoot, Matthew ..........................................AETBarfield, Aleena ..............................................BEBaughman, Samantha ..................................BEBecker, Jason ...................................................BEBernard, Brooke ............................................BE

Bouchard, Natalie ..........................................MSBraswell, Jr. Brantly .......................................BE Brown, Ryan ...................................................MS Buchanan, Leslie ............................................BEByrum, Matthew ............................................BE Campbell, Clay ...............................................BE Chandler, Wesley ............................................BEClayton, Casey ................................................BE Clemmons, Joshua .........................................BECranford, Kaitlyn ...........................................AETCureton, Asante ..............................................BE Dameron, Chad ..............................................BE Davis, Justin ....................................................BEDavis, Spencer ................................................BE Enslin, Minell ................................................BE Ferris, Sarah ....................................................BEFey, Alexander ................................................BEFields, Patrick .................................................AETGarrett, Travis .................................................AET George, Douglas .............................................AETGroce, Nathanael ...........................................BEGuerdat, Todd ................................................PhD Harper, Aaron .................................................BEHarriet ,Allison ...............................................AETHauser, Matthew ............................................BE Holden, Andrew .............................................BEHorstman, Marc .............................................MSHu, Di .............................................................MSHuntley, Christopher .....................................BEIsrael, Jesse ......................................................BE Isaev, Davron ..................................................MS Johnson, Benjamin .........................................BE Jones, Kristen ..................................................BE Kaufmann, Andrew .......................................BEKerns, James ..................................................BEKimbrel, Wesley .............................................AETKing, Logan ....................................................BE

Lahmira, Said .................................................BELee, Jonathan ..................................................AET Li, Qianfeng ....................................................PhDLindholm, Kristin ..........................................BEMarkwood, David ..........................................MBAE Mayer, Michelle ..............................................MS McCarthy, Brian .............................................BE McNamara, Jr. Robert ....................................BE Mullins, Jeff ....................................................BE Newton, Jr. Marshall ......................................BE Njoroge, Kevin ...............................................BEPatrick, Bryant ...............................................BE Penny, Michael................................................BEPicou, Jamie ....................................................BEPrabhushankar, Siddarth ...............................AETPuler, William .................................................BERonan, Nicholas .............................................BE Sharma, Rajat .................................................MS Snow, Benjamin..............................................BESnyder, Daniel ................................................BESpringer, Shawn .............................................MBAE Stancil, Garrett ...............................................BEStone, Stephen ................................................BE Sullivan, William ...........................................BETasselli, John ...................................................AET Thompson, Ryan ............................................BEThrelkeld, Jerry ..............................................BE Tomlinson, Kathryn ......................................BETucker, Kaitlyn ...............................................BEVick, Robert ....................................................MSWallace Kelly ..................................................MBAEWang, Ziyu ......................................................PhDWardynski, Bradley ........................................MS Westberg, Jeremy ............................................AETWilson, Cameron ...........................................BEZhang, Ximing ...............................................MSZink, Jason ......................................................PhD

Fall 2012 Grads