ABE Grad Student Chris Limiac is currently in Nairobi, Kenya where he is working as an intern with the United Nations. Chris has been in Kenya for 6 weeks now and is on a 3 month internship with UN-Habitat in the Urban Energy Unit. He is working with the unit on a project based on developing biogas resources and programs for the urban poor in urban community centers. These projects serve the urban poor by demonstrating appropriate technologies and methods for upgrading and improving upon life in developing regions. Projects address problems regarding energy access, improved sanitation, and income generations. While living abroad, Chris has taken several opportunities to explore the country side and urban life that Kenya has to offer.

Photos (from top): UN welcome sign; UN Habitat Offices; Monkey outside my window!; Hell's Gate National Park; Fischer Tower, Hell's Gate National Park; Climbing Fischer's Tower; Hiking Mt. Suswa

Indiana AgrAbility/Breaking New Ground staffed a display at the Second Indiana Small Farms Conference in Danville, Indiana.  The display featured the tool column, arthritis in agriculture, and the USDA’s Veterans to Agriculture Project (http://rv2a.org).  The veteran’s project is focused on providing information concerning resources available to veterans who want to return to farming or begin farming.  It is a pilot project which will be going national later this spring.  Response to the available resource information was very good.  The 2014 Farm Bill will put greater emphasis on serving veterans than before. 

The National AgrAbility Project, Indiana AgrAbility, and the Purdue Grain Safety Training Project staffed exhibits at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky.  The National AgrAbility Project and Indiana AgrAbility exhibited with the Kentucky AgrAbility Project to provide information about farmers and ranchers with disabilities and how they might continue farming with their disability.  One of the most popular publications distributed was the Arthritis and Agriculture brochure of which 90,000 have been printed and distributed. 

The Purdue Grain Safety display provided information on the hazards of grain storage facilities and offered grain rescue training by their certified trainer.

Maha Abroad

Dr. Vacca and his students Pulkit Agarwal (Master’s Student) and Ram Sudarsan (PhD Student) attended the CONEXPO-CON/AGG in Las Vegas, NV March 4-8. The group shared 3 papers with the diverse audience interested in construction equipment and the fluid power used to make these machines more efficient. Additionally, Pulkit presented “A Numerical Model for the Simulation of Flow in Radial Piston Machines”. Great job to all!

Dr. Ivantysynova, Dr. Vacca, Naseem Daher (PhD Candidate), Guido Ritelli (PhD Candidate), Andrew Schenk (PhD Candidate), and Mike Sprengel (PhD Candidate) are traveling to the 9^th International Fluid Power Conference in Aachen, Germany March 24-26. Additionally, a recent PhD from Dr. Vacca’s group, Davide Cristofori, is accepting the Aachen HP award for his thesis dissertation at the conference’s gala dinner. Congratulations to Davide for having such a stand-out thesis in the fluid power community! We wish the team an excellent time sharing research and inspiring and being inspired by the work of other international colleagues.