College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

Agricultural and biosystems academic advising goes online

When Iowa State University moved to online instruction in March, it didn’t just impact course delivery. The transition also disrupted academic advising during the busy fall registration period. Academic advisors and the relationships they build with their student advisees are an important part of the undergraduate experience at Iowa State. To help keep their advisees …Continue reading “Agricultural and biosystems academic advising goes online”

Tracing food commodities – In bulk

Being able to trace your food from farm to fork has become a necessity for many consumers. ISU ABE professor, Charles Hurburgh, and his team are setting better practices for effective bulk commodity traceability. Bulk food products are often blended and thought to be impossible to track through their supply chains.

Improving decision management

What if you had all the field data you needed right in front of you? Steven Mickelson, professor and department chair of Iowa State Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and his team are developing an innovative decision support (DS) tool for conservation professionals. This program will help conservation professionals to see a 3-D appearance of the field with a conservation best management practice (BMP) in place.

ASABE Be Inspired video competition

Inspiration can come from a variety of places. Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) students Alena Whitaker, a senior in Biological Systems Engineering (BSE), Mike Sserunjogi, graduate student in ABE, and Garrett Onstot, a Uganda service learner, participated the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) one-minute video challenge. 

Iowa State professor participates in Vatican food waste conference

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) hosted an international conference at the Vatican Nov. 11-12 aimed at reducing food loss and food waste worldwide. Dr. Dirk Maier, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University in Ames, was one of more than 50 scientists, engineers, economists, corporate leaders and United Nations officials from 24 countries brought together to develop a plan to cut world food waste and loss in half by 2030. Fellow Iowan, Dr. Kenneth Quinn, retired president of the World Food Prize, was also a participant.

Retaining students through relationship-building

The origin of ISU ABE’s successful learning community is rooted in long-term retention efforts  In the fall of 1997, Iowa State University’s Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering (ISU ABE) Department saw a 33% decline in retaining incoming students. This threw a then-new associate chair of teaching into a sticky situation. Steve Mickelson needed to find the …Continue reading “Retaining students through relationship-building”

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