For the third consecutive year, Purdue's ABE undergraduate program has been ranked #1 by US News & World Report. The graduate program recently celebrated the fifth consecutive #1 spot, marking the second year that both programs have held top honors. The work we do here matters!

Indiana AgrAbility staffed a display in the FFA Pavilion at the Indiana State Fair.  During the 17 days of the Indiana State Fair, staff and volunteers raised awareness of AgrAbility with publications, a John Deere tractor with a Life Essentials lift, a Bridging Horizons Community Service display, Arthritis and Agriculture poster, an AgrAbility pop-up display, an AT tool board, and the AgrAbility video. 

Indiana AgrAbility was represented at the INDATA AT Palooza by Steve Swain, the assistive technology specialist.  Attendance was light but was significant in who did attend.  The display included publications and an AgrAbility pop-up display.

The National AgrAbility Project and the Illinois AgrAbility Unlimited staff had displays in the Health and Safety tent at the 2013 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois.  Displays included publications, the NAP video, Arthritis and Agriculture, an AT tool board, a pop-up display, a Journeyman scooter, and the John Deere tractor with a Life Essentials Pilot lift.  Information was distributed to several states which included contact information for the SRAP in their state.

Margaret Kalcic (PhD). Adaptive targeting: Engaging farmers to assess perceptions and improve watershed modeling, spatial optimization, and adoption of agricultural conservation practices. Monday, August 26, 2013, 2:30 pm. ABE 301. (Chaubey, Frankenberger)

New Faces

Maha is pleased to welcome three more researchers to the lab: Amine Nhila, a PhD student and recent graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, will be doing research in Dr. Ivantysynova’s group. Bjoern Bahl, an IEASTE exchange student (http://www.iaeste.org) from Germany, will be working in Dr. Ivantysynova’s group on a powertrain project. And, Matteo Pellegri, a visiting researcher from University of Parma, Italy, is working in Dr. Vacca’s group investigating the effect of journal bearings on external gear machine operations. Welcome to all!

Special Visitors

Many successful visits to Maha occurred in the last month. The team was thrilled to welcome Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Japan), Stored Energy Solutions (Syracuse, IN), and Hagie Manufacturing Company (Iowa) to our facilities. We look forward to continuing relationships with these innovative companies in the future.

New Projects

Maha has been awarded a USDA project on the topic of water hydraulics. Meike Ernst (Master’s Student) will be taking charge of this exciting new opportunity!

The Multicultural Effort to end Sexual Assault (MESA) reaches out to migrant workers and their families, particularly focusing on domestic abuse situations. One of the ways that they help these families is by providing them with household goods, clothing, school supplies, non-perishable food items, and personal care items. There is a box located outside of the main office (ABE 219) where you can place donations through the month of September. The last load will go over Monday afternoon, September 30.

Please consider helping us to reach out to these families.

Hey ABE Students!  Want to win $20,000?  Find out how at the Student Soybean & Corn Innovation Competitions Call-Out.  September 9th in LILY 1105 at 5:30 pm and/or September 16th in SMITH 108 at 5:30 pm.  These competitions are open to all Purdue undergraduate and graduate students! 

The purpose of these competitions is to encourage students to exercise their knowledge and skills in creating new industrial products from soybeans or corn.  Student teams will enter this competition to create novel products or materials using soybeans, corn, or their components. 

Student innovation contests are excellent learning tools.  Through these competitions, students will gain practical experience in utilizing their coursework education to develop products/processes, learning about specific new technical areas, and applying economic, technical and marketing feasibility.  Industry gains novel ideas for potential commercial development, as well as developing future potential employees.

Find out more at the Competition Call-Out!

As promised in the August ABe-Notes, here are some details about Nate Engelberth:

Nate Engelberth joins ABE this fall to work with the ABE undergraduate program and managing undergraduate student placement.  Working at Purdue is something of a homecoming for Nate - both of his parents are both Purdue alumni (ME & Secondary Education) and he has extended family throughout Indiana.  Nate is married to Dr. Abigail Engelberth, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering.  Nate has worked in higher education for many years in several roles, most recently as the Associate Director for Advising and Student Services Coordinator in Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue.  Before coming to Purdue, Nate worked in the Institutional Research Office at the University of Arkansas compiling data and reports and the Admissions Office at the University of Maine where he assisted with recruiting, scholarship, and administrative efforts.  He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS and MS in Psychology.  Nate enjoys outdoor activities (hiking, kayaking, camping), homebrewing his own beer, and spending time with Abigail and their dog Willa.