Professor Bill Field spent a week in Ragusa, Siciliy, at a meeting of Mediterranean countries working to improve the safety and health of agricultural producers in the region. He was able to team up with Dr. Remigio Berruto (Purdue PhD) on the planning committee. Bill was a keynote presenter and also presented workshops on bull safety, confined spaces in agricultural incidents, and modifying agricultural equipment for farmers with disabilities.

Italy is in the process of consolidating the current 21 colleges of agriculture; the program in Ragusa will be combined with another college in Catania. This move reflects the economic stresses found throughout much of Europe, and it appears that the end is not in sight.

A tour of orchards and vineyards allowed for observation of robotic pesticide applicators in use. These rely on GPS guidance systems and are designed to reduce human pesticide exposure.

The food was wonderful!

Professor Dennis Buckmaster visited Inner Mongolia Agricultural University of Hohhot, China, to attend the International Forum on Higher Education and Social Development. He also taught a 1-credit fluid power technology course to juniors in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (in English) and attended IMAU's 60th anniversary celebration and ceremonies as part of the international VIP delegation.

Drs. Krutz, Ivantysynova, and Vacca were joined by their spouses, along with Susan and Steve Gauger, for the final 2012 sailing of the Madame Carroll on September 28.

Bassel Daher (MS) "Water, Energy, and Food Nexus: A Basis for Strategic Planning for Natural Resources." Wednesday, October 17, 2012 8 am ABE 212 (Mohtar)

Brittany Newell (PhD) "Utilization of Electroactive Polymes in Sealing Devices." October 1, 2012 (Krutz)

Coming + Going

Maha welcomed visiting researcher Hideaki Usami from Japan. Hideaki will be working with the pump modeling group beginning with analyzing the cylinder block and valve plate interface.

Maha Abroad

Marco Zecchi (PhD Student), Andrew Schenk (PhD Student),  Rohit Hippalgaonkar (PhD Student), Enrique Busquets (Master’s Student),  Davide Cristofori (PhD Student), and Ram Devendran (PhD Student) presented at the 2012 NFPA Workforce Summit and CCEFP Annual Meeting in Champaign, IL. Several additional students presented posters about cutting-edge research at the lab.

Special Recognitions

Congratulations to Sujan Dhar (PhD Student) for receiving 2^nd Place (out of 41!) in the NFPA Workforce Summit and CCEFP Annual Meeting Poster Session Contest. Sujan did an excellent job explaining his project, “Fluid Structure Interaction Modeling of Lubricating Interfaces in Gear Machines” to association members, students, and industry personnel, alike. Congratulations, Sujan and advisor Andrea Vacca!

As further information from last month’s announcement, Dr. Matteo Pelosi (PhD, 2012) and Prof. Monika Ivantysynova won the Best Paper award at the ASME/Bath Symposium on Fluid Power & Motion Control held in Washington, DC in October 2011. By tradition, the award is not presented until the next year’s symposium. This ASME/Bath Symposium is one of the most prestigious fluid fluid power conferences worldwide. This is the 4^th time Maha has won Best Paper Award. Congratulations to Matteo and Monika for their excellent achievement!