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K-State Today

July 27, 2016

Faculty and students garner honors at professional society meeting

Submitted by Mary Rankin

Kansas State University was well represented by faculty and students from the biological and agricultural engineering department at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 2016 Annual International Meeting, July 17–20, in Orlando, Florida.

Lisa Wilken, assistant professor in the department, received the A.W. Farrall Young Educator Award for outstanding contributions in engineering education, as well as dedication to the professional development and mentoring of students.

Danny Rogers, professor and extension irrigation specialist at K-State, was recipient of the GB Gunlogson Countryside Engineering award for exemplary service to irrigation and water research management in the central Great Plains, as well as for his leadership in the society's annual student design Fountain Wars competition.

As part of a national research group, Donghai Wang, professor of biological and agricultural engineering, represented his department and the College of Engineering, as one of four team members receiving the Rain Bird Engineering Concept of the Year Award, presented annually for a unique contribution to developing or advancing a new engineering concept. The team's project was titled "Char-Supported Catalysts for Snygas Cleanup and Conditioning."

Devin Mangus, biological and agricultural engineering graduate student, took first place in the Boyd-Scott Graduate Research Award competition, which recognizes excellence in the conduct and presentation of research to build the knowledge base needed by engineers who design equipment, facilities and processes for the sustainable operation of a biological system. Finalists are selected based on written submissions, and those students then compete in oral presentations for cash awards. Mangus' project was titled "Development of High-Speed Camera Hardware and Software Package to Evaluate Real-Time Electric Seed Meter Accuracy of a Variable-Rate Planter."

Anna Kucera, junior in biological and agricultural engineering, was one of two recipients of an ASABE Foundation Engineering Scholarship; and Kseniya Sheshukova, senior, received third place and a cash award in the K.K. Barnes Student Paper Awards competition for her work "Absorption Kinetics of Recombinant Human Serum Albumin for Development of an Integrated Purification Process."

Three May 2016 biological and agricultural engineering graduating seniors — Austin Schmitz, Peter Masters and Davie Leiszler — received third place in the AGCO National Student Design Competition for their project design "Integrated System to Monitor Dairy Calf Feeding Behavior for Pre-Clinical Detection of Disease."