The Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) took the 2022 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting by storm this summer, bringing home several awards, accomplishments and successes in a large variety of areas of the conference.
Students, faculty and staff were all recognized at this ASABE meeting, hosted in Houston, Texas this year. From fellowships to presentations, and even competitions, students, clubs and faculty all received honors.
Students
Four graduate students from Iowa State were recognized for the AIM Student Oral/Poster Presentation Competition. This competition is open to all students who submit an abstract, register to attend, and present at the conference. Each award consists of a $250 cash prize and a certificate.
The following students were recognized in this year’s competition:
- Lindsey Hartfiel: Spatial Pollutant Interactions within a Dual-Chamber Denitrification Bioreactor
- Gabriel Johnson: Nitrate Removal in Saturated Riparian Buffers In Iowa
- Peiyang Li: Continuous air cleaning by filtration and UV-C treatment of airborne pathogens and particulate matter in indoor spaces
- Gabrielle Myers: Cost Assessment of Centralizing a Swine Manure and Corn Stover Co-Digestion System
Faculty
Along with student recognition, several faculty members received awards, too. At the conference, two faculty members were inducted into the ASABE fellowship, a distinction only given to those of ‘unusual professional distinction, with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience in, or related to, the field of agricultural, food, or biological systems engineering.’ ASABE Fellows possess a minimum of 20 years of active practice in, or related to, the profession of engineering; the teaching of engineering; or the teaching of an engineering-related curriculum and a minimum of 20 years as an active Member-Engineer or Member in ASABE. This year, Matt Helmers, professor in ABE, and Raj Raman, Morrill professor in ABE were inducted as ASABE fellows, joining several ABE faculty in the fellowship.
Several awards were also presented to other faculty members in ABE, including the following:
- Hongwei Xin, Kishida International Award
- Ramesh Kanwar, Lalit and Aruna Verma Award for Excellence in Global Engagement
- Charles Sukup, Henry Giese Structures and Environment Award
- Amy Kaleita, Massey-Ferguson Educational Gold Medal
Club Competitions
Not only did faculty and students receive several individual awards, but ABE excelled in the competitions at the conference, too.
At every ASABE International Meeting, a competition called Fountain Wars takes place. ASABE’s Fountain Wars is a hands-on, real-time student design competition that takes place at the Society’s annual international meeting. Collegiate teams design and model their fountains onsite, and build and test their actual entries under time pressure. The competition is primarily targeted at student clubs or participants in sophomore/junior-level class design projects.
This year, the ASABE club at Iowa State placed second at the Fountain Wars competition, taking home a $1,000 prize for the accomplishment. The ISU team developed the fountain plans over the past several months and competed in several categories, including aesthetics and overall appearance and the ability to move a rubber duck around the pool at base using the force of water generated by their design.