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News and Events
BAE Professor assists with opening of the 2007 US Solar Decathlon University of Kentucky, Biosystems and Ag Engineering Associate Professor Don Colliver (second from right) representing the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers spoke at the opening ceremony and assisted US Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman with the ribbon cutting opening the 2007 Solar Decathlon, Friday Oct 12 on the National Mall in Washington DC. The Solar Decathlon is a unique competition in which 20 college- and university-lead teams from around the world work to design, finance, construct, and operate the most energy-efficient, solar-powered homes imaginable. The team-constructed houses built on the Mall between the Washington Monument and the Capitol will be evaluated in ten areas evaluating the next generation of totally-off grid solar-powered homes. The Decathlon event winner will be awarded Oct 19th. Additional information about the houses and the event can be found at www.solardecathlon.org. Individuals in photo to the left are: (L-R) Bob Azzi, Sr VP Sprint; Lee Edwards , Pres BP Solar; Michelle Moore, US Green Building Council; Samuel Bodman, Secretary of Energy; Alexander Karsner, Assistant Secretary of Energy; RK Stewart, Pres AIA; Donald Colliver, ASHRAE; Bobi Garrett, Assoc Director, National Renewal Energy Laboratory. BAE Celebrates its 50th Anniversary The Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department celebrated its 50th anniversary in style. Over 100 current and former faculty, students and staff attended a day of remembering past achievements and friendships and sharing current activities within the department. The day's events culminated with a special dinner featuring the department's famous Barbequed Chicken! (what else?), hilarious and heartfelt reminiscing by an alum from each decade and a historical video presentation of the first 50 years of BAE history. If you were unable to attend, follow this link to view the history video online. New Chair Appointment for BAE Announced Dean Smith announced Saturday, July 14th that Dr. Scott Shearer has accepted an appointment as Chair of the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. Dr. Shearer received his degrees from the Ohio State University. He joined the department faculty in July of 1986. Since that time his assignment has included responsibilities in teaching, research and extension and he has made significant contributions in all three areas. His area of expertise is engineering of control systems for agricultural machinery. Dr. Shearer’s term will begin on August 15, 2007, pending formal approval by the U.K. administration. Congratulations to Dr. Shearer! Two New Grants Received We are proud to announce the receipt of two grants involving poultry and two BAE faculty members. The first grant "Feeding and Altering Diets for Egg Laying Hens" is an USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant. Scientists involved include Dr. Rich Gates (BAE) and Hongwei Xin, Iowa State; Eileen Wheeler and Paul Patterson, Penn State. This $812,998 grant, administered by United Egg Producers, with management support from Dr. Gates will evaluate diet modification strategies and their effect on ammonia emmissions, manure nutrient contents, hen production performance and production costs. Link: d http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/2007awards.html The second grant announcement is for an $825,716 Kentucky Poultry Federation grant involving Drs. Doug Overhults and Rich Gates (BAE) and Dr. Tony Pescatore (Animal Science). The investigators will conduct Poultry House Evaluations for energy efficiency and Producer Education Workshops. Link: http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/kyagpolicy/070615_adb_release-PoultryFederation.htm Congratulations to our faculty grant recipients! Three Faculty Receive New Titles! Congratulations to Drs. Agouridis, Crofcheck and Nokes! Dr. Carmen Agouridis is our newest P.E. Dr. Czarena Crofcheck now holds the title of Associate Professor and Dr. Sue Nokes is now a full Professor. These women exemplify the marks of excellence achieved by our faculty and serve as role models for the young women engineers of the future. Dr. Scott Shearer Receives PrecisionAg Award of Excellence The PrecisionAg Institute recently established The PrecisionAg Award of Excellence "to honor those throughout the industry who are making significant achievements in precision agriculture technology adoption, use, education and research." On June 8, 2007, the PrecisionAg Institute announced its inaugural class of three recipients, one of whom was our own Dr. Scott Shearer! Chosen for demonstrating leadership in precision agriculture, the recipients will be honored during the opening session at InfoAg 2007 (July 10-12th) in Springfield, Il. Congratulations, Dr. Shearer! To read more, follow this link to PrecisionAg Institute's website. Quarter Scale Tractor Team Awarded for Excellence The Quarter Scale Tractor Team once again represented the UK Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering in exemplary fashion. The 2007 ASABE Quarter Scale Tractor Design Competition was held in Peoria Illinois from May 31 through June 3. UK was one of 28 teams from the U.S. and Canada registered for the competition. UK placed fourth overall in the competition behind first place Kansas State, second place Purdue, and third place Universite Laval. In 2006 the rule limiting schools to one engine (Briggs&Stratton 16 Hp Vanguard) was eliminated. UK was one of the first schools to use four engines in 2006. UK arrived at the competition this year with a four-engine entry only to discover the Purdue entry utilized six engines while the Illinois entry sported five. In spite of the competition UK placed fourth overall in Pull Performance, third in Maneuverability, and first in Manufacturability bringing home that award. While we can all be proud of this finish given the nature of the competition, you must also know the UK team faced many challenges with this year’s tractor. The main frame of the tractor failed during transport requiring extensive repairs in the early hours of Thursday morning. While the students utilized an impact factor of 6 for the loads they expected the tractor to see during the competition, they did not foresee/anticipate the loads placed on the frame during shipping. They quickly learned from industry engineers that it is not uncommon to see impact factors approaching 9 during shipping. Other problems encountered and resolved at the competition included a preload in the clutch that did not permit full engagement and a resonance problem at low speed causing the engines to shake uncontrollably. All three problems were resolved quickly allowing UK’s team to meet all of competition obligations. In the final analysis UK was one of two teams to pass the technical inspection on the first attempt. In addition the X-Team entry from UK (revised 2006 tractor) won both pull events to bring home that award. Please join Tim Smith and me in congratulating all of the team members on a job well done. The 2007 team includes: Will Adams, Matt Ballard, John Bell, Jeffrey Brown, Michael Collier, Eric Ellsworth, Tiffany Graham, Katey Greis, Pamela Griffith, Michael Hagan, Ryan Hillenbrand, Justin Jackson, Emma Jones, Brian Luck, Josh Jackson, Justin Jackson, Christina Lyvers, Alan Masterson, Sam Mullins, Santosh Pitla, Michael Sama, Michelle Senn, Zach Thomas, Kyle Turner, Grant Wonderlich, and Steven Yaste. While the students worked hard to represent the institution, there are a number of unsung heroes who contributed behind the scenes. The students and advisors would like to thank Lee Rechtin, Ed Roberts, Ed Hutchens and Carl King for their time and support of the students. Each of these gentlemen contributed their talents in support tractor fabrication and travel to the competition. Their contributions are greatly appreciated. Two UK Student Design Teams in Finals Competition CONGRATULATIONS BAE DESIGN TEAMS! Two teams from UK BAE are among the 'Final 3' in the ASABE AGCO National Student Design Competition. First, second and third place winners are determined by a combined score of the written/project portion, along with the oral presentation score. These top three student entries will be recognized during the ASABE Awards Recognition Luncheon program on Wednesday, June 20, where each student placement will be presented a cash prize. Congratulations to: Drew Goodall, Stewart Keeling and Grant Wonderlich Advisor: Dr. Shearer Project Title: Single Wheel Tester for Small Agricultural, Construction and ATV Tires Justin Jackson, Eric Krogh and Troy Saghafi Advisor: Dr. Tim Stombaugh Project Title: Equine Mobile Feeder BAE's 50th anniversary recognized by University of Vicosa President Sediyama of the University of Vicosa presented the BAE Department with a plaque commemorating our 50th anniversary. They are celebrating their 80th anniversary this year, and the university is celebrating its 81st! Also at this meeting, UK and UFV signed a new Umbrella Agreement for student and faculty exchange. This will enable future exchanges to continue, and the hope is to expand from BAE to other disciplines over the next 5 years. BAE Outstanding Senior and Outstanding Teacher Named We are pleased to announce that Grant Wonderlich and Dr. Scott Shearer have been named our Outstanding Senior and Outstanding Teacher in BAE this year. They will be formally recognized at the upcoming Tau Beta Pi Awards recognition dinner. Please join us in congratulating Grant and Scott on these distinct honors. BAE Professor named NRCS Coordinator for KY Ag Experiment Station We are pleased to recognize Dr. Steve Workman who has been named to the position of Natural Resources Coordinator for the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, effective February 01, 2007. While the primary responsibility is to provide administrative leadership for the SB271 Water Quality Program, he will also be responsible for coordinating the Environmental and Natural Resources Committee, an advisory group for both ENRI and the Tracy Farmer Center. We congratulate Dr. Workman on this significant assignment! BAE Extension Personnel Honored at State Conference Congratulations to Gerald (Jerry) Hash for winning the Outstanding Extension Associate Award this year from the KY Assoc. of State Extension Professionals (KASEP). Most of you know about Jerry's work on delivering energy efficiency information around the state, including the State Fair and many other exhibits. (If you don't you might find it very interesting, since it impacts your home energy bills!) This recognition of Gerry's efforts gratifying, since residential energy programs have been "unorthodox" compared to more conventional Ag & Natural Resource, Family Consumer Science or 4H programs. This significant recognition for his continued hard work comes not only with a plaque, but a monetary award! Also recognized this week at the State Extension Conference were two of our Extension Professors, Robert Fehr and Joe Taraba. Each was recognized for 30 years of service. They each received a plaque, but no checks! A copy of the awards banquet program is available in the front office. There was also a recognition of Larry Turner's leadership on E-extension, with Lois, Amy, Molly and Clay in attendance to receive the award. BAE Exchange Students Return Four BAE undergrads are back in Kentucky after studying for a semester in Brazil. The students, Tiffany Graham, Pamela Griffith, Michael Vanarsdall and Michael Hagan, are part of an undergraduate engineering exchange program that is being led by UK-BAE. In addition to studying, they report taking the opportunities for some tremendous travels, including attending the Brazilian Society of Agricultural Engineering annual meeting and visiting famous places like Iguasu Falls and the Amazon. During the Brazilian Society of Agricultural Engineering annual meeting the students were able to have a business meeting with representatives from participating Universities in Brazil. The BAE students also had the opportunity to work with a Brazillian instructor and Graduate student on specific projects. This exchange project is ongoing, and Iowa State University is the U.S. partner. There are four Universities participating in Brazil. These are the Federal University of Vicosa (UFV) which is the lead Brazilian institute, as well as Federal Universities of Campina Grande and Lavras, and the State University of Sao Paulo in Piracicaba. For more details on the FIPSE project, see http://www.bae.uky.edu/Undergrad/study_abroad.htm Bem Vindas, Brasileiras!! Six Brazilian exchange students arrived at the University of Kentucky on August 7 as part of the FIPSE/CAPES International Education Grant coordinated by Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering faculty. These senior level students will take a semester of classes at the University of Kentucky to fulfill part of their education requirements at the Federal University of Viçosa in Brazil. They are looking forward to taking classes, improving their English, making new friends, and sightseeing. The students join the two visiting scientists and three graduate students from Brazil currently working on projects in the BAE department. BAE Professor named ASABE Fellow The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has named Dr. Fred A. Payne a Fellow of the Society. Payne will be inducted at a ceremony on July 12, during the 2006 ASABE Annual International Meeting, being held in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Payne is being honored for his significant academic and industrial achievements in the food industry, development of optical technologies for food process control, and for leadership in the organization of Food Processing Automation conferences. He is considered a specialist and leader in food and bioprocess engineering. His research program has focused on automation applications in food processing plants, with a primary emphasis in the development of optical sensors for monitoring and controlling food processing applications. His research has helped to commercialize cheese and cottage cheese cutting-time control technology. Dr. Payne formed Reflectronics, Inc., in 1993 to bring this technology to market, and it has been installed in eight cheese plants around the world. He also developed methods to detect transitions in food-product pipelines. He holds six patents as a result of his work, with one pending. In his present position, Dr. Payne teaches food engineering courses to engineering and food science students and directs graduate student research in the development of optical sensors for food process control. Prior to joining the University of Kentucky faculty, Payne was an associate professor in the agricultural engineering department at Clemson University. He also has private industry experience, serving as a project engineer and research food engineer at the General Mills JFB Research Center in Minneapolis. A native of Hardinsburg, Kentucky, Payne currently resides in Lexington. In addition to being a 24-year member of ASABE, Payne also holds membership in the Institute for Food Technologists. Only about two percent of the active members of ASABE have achieved the grade of Fellow. To be considered, an individual must demonstrate unusual professional distinction, with outstanding qualifications and experience in the field of agricultural engineering. Other requirements also apply and include 20 years or more in the practice or teaching of engineering and 20 years’ or more membership in ASABE. Congratulations, Dr. Payne!
BAE professor receives award for outstanding teaching!
BAE Graduate Students Wins NSF Fellowship! BAE Professor gains tenure BAE Chairman wins national awards |
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Copyright (c) 2004 University of Kentucky Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering | ||
Dr. Colliver at Solar Decathlon event in Washington, D.C.
Congratualtions on BAE's 50th anniversary!
