Published: July 16, 2008 11:00 am            

OSU biosystems, agricultural engineering department unique

Oklahoma State University’s department of biosystems and agricultural engineering is committed to building better solutions to life’s challenges by producing and employing outstanding agricultural and biological engineers, and it can prove it in a rather unique manner.

One of the preeminent distinctions of the more than 9,000-member strong American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers is election to the rank of Fellow. It is a professional honor that only about 2 percent of ASABE members will achieve in their lifetime.

As of July 1, fully 10 percent of the association’s Fellows have direct ties to the OSU academic department, part of the university’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

“It’s a somewhat astounding statistic because Fellows are chosen for their unusual professional distinction and extraordinary qualifications,” said Ron Elliott, department head. “To constitute such a significant percentage of this small group speaks highly of our national status in terms of training generations of agricultural and biological engineers, as well as the ability of our faculty and staff to consistently develop beneficial technological innovations.”

Nominees must have 20 years or more in the profession, be it in industry, academia or a combination of both. Being named an ASABE Fellow is very much recognition of lifetime achievement.

“ASABE Fellows are literally agents of change, discovering and developing new ways of doing things more efficiently and effectively,” Elliott said. “Many of the innovations have been instrumental in providing ways for individuals, communities and industries to be both economically viable and environmentally sound.”

For Oklahomans involved in agriculture and natural resource development, the names of ASABE Fellows who work or spent decades working in the OSU department read like a Who’s Who list of experts with whom they have interacted over the years.

OSU Sarkeys Distinguished Professor John Solie and former Regents Professor Marvin Stone, who retired from the department in 2006, are part of the division’s interdisciplinary team that developed the groundbreaking GreenSeeker precision agriculture technology, allowing producers to better manage the economic and environmental aspects of costly inputs such as fertilizer.

Emeritus Professor Ron Noyes may have retired in 2004, but he remains well-known throughout the state for his work with stored grain management, providing numerous cost-saving, safety and environmental benefits to producers and grain elevator operators.

ASABE Fellows Bill Barfield, Tom Haan, Jay Porterfield, Erv Schroeder and David Thompson all served as department head of biosystems and agricultural engineering. Elliott, the current department head, is also a Fellow.

Professor Ray Huhnke serves as coordinator of OSU’s multi-college, multi-institutional biofuels team. The team, which has been involved in biofuels development since the early 1990s, was one of only 13 national recipients selected to participate in the 2008 Washington D.C. Annual Bio Energy Awareness Days event, June 19-22.

Emeritus Regents Professor Gerald Brusewitz is renowned for his work on post-harvest handling, processing and storage of agricultural products. Emeritus Professor Glenn Kranzler performed cutting-edge research on the application of machine vision to agricultural product processing.

“The list goes on and on, especially when you add in those whose careers took them elsewhere,” Elliott said. “For example, former faculty member Allen Rider went on to become president of New Holland North America and has served his professional society as president of both ASABE and the ASABE Foundation.”

Stephen Searcy, who earned his doctoral degree through the department in 1980, is the latest ASABE Fellow with a Cowboy connection. A professor and associate head of biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M University, Searcy was named a Fellow on June 29 during the association’s annual international meeting. He is known worldwide for his research on precision agriculture and was one of the early pioneers in the development of yield mapping.

Robert E. Whitson, OSU vice president for agricultural programs, said the division is a strong proponent of using a multi-disciplinary approach to solve both complex and practical problems for clientele in the state.

“The expertise and involvement of our faculty in teaching, research and extension allows our agricultural and biological engineers to interact in all aspects of rural and urban agriculture, including high-priority programs such as water, biofuels and sensor-based technology,” he said.

Additional information about the OSU department of biosystems and agricultural engineering’s teaching, research and Cooperative Extension programs is available at http://biosystems.okstate.edu/ on the Internet.

        

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