Alumni Publications

Venecia R. Wilson (BS '13), Xiaochun Lou, Donald J. Osterling, DeAnne F. Stolarik, Gary J. Jenkins, Brittany L.B. Nichols, Yifan Dong, Kevin J. Edgar, Geoff G.Z. Zhang, Lynne S. Taylor. 2020. Amorphous solid dispersions of enzalutamide and novel polysaccharide derivatives: investigation of relationships between polymer structure and performance. Scientific Reports (2020) 10 18535 doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75077-7

Guo, Tian (PhD '16), Johnson, L.T., LaBarge, G. A., Penn, C. J., Stumpf, R. P., Baker, D. B., & Shao G. (2020): Less Agricultural Phosphorus Applied in 2019 Led to Less Dissolved Phosphorus Transported to Lake Erie. Environmental Science & Technology. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c03495

Kevin Eikenberry's (BS '84) latest book, The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership, has been translated into a sixth language (Korean). His next book publishes in January - The Long-Distance Teammate: Stay Engaged and Connected While Working From Anywhere. Kevin not only is an alum of the department, he was recognized as an ABE Outstanding Alum in 2002 and a Distinguished Agriculture Alum in 2004. He has also led seminars for the ABE faculty and staff.

We were delighted to hear from Darren Seidel (MS '17):

I hope this email finds each of you well. After a successful defense and submitting my final dissertation this past Monday, I have officially wrapped up my doctoral program at the University of Georgia in Ruminant Nutrition. Thank you all for being a part of my academic journey, and I am still a proud Boilermaker and ABE alum.

I also wanted to share the other big news. I have been interviewing with Purina Animal Nutrition for a little over a month now, and I received my official offer yesterday and accepted my new role. I will begin working with Purina on December 14th in Northern Georgia. During the interview process, I negotiated serving on academic committees/adjunct faculty appointments in addition to my professional responsibilities. I know I pivoted academically from my M.S. to my Ph.D., but if I can help and give back to ABE in any way, please don't hesitate to let me know. My fiancée and I are really excited about this opportunity and the future.

Please keep in touch and I would be happy to serve/help ABE however I can.

Take care and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

Boiler Up!

Dr. Dennis Buckmaster has been busy on the data front. CAST (The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology) hosted a webinar on November 17 "Ground and Aerial Robots for Agricultural Production: Opportunities and Challenges". The presentation was recorded and the video is available on YouTube. The publication and a student guide are also available for download. (images from CAST publication)

ABE Outstanding Instructors, Counselors, and Student Service

Dennis Buckmaster – Outstanding Ag Teacher 

Abby Engelberth – Outstanding Engr. Teacher 

Al Heber – Outstanding Counselor

Bob Stwalley – Outstanding Teacher Award for Clinical Faculty

Nate Engelberth – Outstanding Service to Students

The selection process collected materials from the seniors in the department; a recommendation for each of these awards was made by the student club leadership using the materials from seniors; and Dr. Nathan Mosier, department head, endorsed the recommendations. The awards committee will be working with our award winners and submitting materials to the college-level awards competitions.  The celebration and recognition of the accomplishments and excellence of our faculty (and students and staff) is important not only for the individuals recognized but also to the reputation and visibility of the department. Congratulations to all!

The National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) held their annual conference on a farm outside of Boydton, Virginia, October 31 – November 1. This year, the National AgrAbility Project (NAP) sent two staff members - Ed Sheldon, NAP farmer veteran job coach and engagement coordinator,  and Chuck Baldwin, NAP underserved populations outreach coordinator. Ed and Chuck were joined by John Jamerson, African American farmer from the historic Lyles Station community in southwest Indiana. Jamerson leads the LIFE (Legacy Innovation Farming Economics) Project, a USDA 2501 grant to help socially disadvantaged farmers, ranchers, and veterans, in which the National AgrAbility Project is a partner.

While past NBFA conferences have welcomed in excess of 600 attendees in a hotel setting, this year’s event, due to COVID-19, was hosted on a 1,000-acre farm belonging to NBFA Founder/President Dr. John Boyd and his wife, Kara, who is co-founder and president of the Association of American Indian Farmers . Storms along the eastern seaboard grounded flights for Native Americans coming in from Western states, so in-person attendance was limited to about 50. However, all of the conference sessions were broadcast live via Zoom, so a wider audience was reached. (photo right: Dr. John and Kara Boyd on Zoom)

The small attendance gave more opportunities for the NAP and LIFE Project team to develop close relationships with others at the conference and particularly with hosts John and Kara Boyd. The conversations held over the two-day event were eye-opening as many of the black farmers in attendance shared current-day stories of financial and physical mistreatment, unequal access to loans, discrimination in the markets, and sometimes violence or property damage due to racist attitudes. The plea that was heard the most was not for any kind of hand-out, but for an equal opportunity to work hard as a farmer and to reap the benefits of that labor in equal measure. Both John and Kara expressed again their appreciation for the open collaboration with Purdue’s AgrAbility Project and the services AgrAbility has rendered to Black and Native American farmers for several years. (Photo left: l to r: John Jamerson, Ed Sheldon, Dr. John Boyd)

Among the attendees was a local Viet Nam veteran with whom Ed was able to share a copy of “The Next Mission”, a video produced by the National AgrAbility Project, and some AgrAbility/LIFE Project brochures. John, Ed, and Chuck were able to share information about AgrAbility and the LIFE Project during a one-hour session, both in-person and via Zoom. 

The NAP/LIFE Project team was welcomed by the Boyd’s/NBFA in true Southern style and hospitality and made to feel as if they were truly family. Among the event’s amenities enjoyed by the Purdue staff were a hayride, southern-fried catfish, whiting (fish), chicken, green beans, potato salad, various desserts and, on Saturday afternoon, a whole-hog roast (pig-pickin’) and Brunswick stew with a concert next to the silos by DieDra, the “Alabama Blues Queen” and the Ruff Pro Band (photo right).

For Ed and Chuck, the biggest take-away was the close-up relationship-building that was done across racial, political, and social lines - both the giving and the receiving. “An amazing experience!”

The Purdue International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Team makes progress towards the #NextGiantLeap and brings home a Gold Medal at the virtual Jamboree in November. The team joined the fight against COVID-19 and designed a novel microfluidic sensor for rapid detection of COVID-19. This project was one of 256 entries from across the globe where teams engineer biology to address pressing real-world problems. The team was led by BE Junior Madhu Prakash and senior Ben Howard and included BE juniors Matthew Chan, Andres Dextre, Jieun (Grace), Lee, Dalton Saylor, Hailey Szadowski, Miles Thompson and others from ECE, CS, FYE, Biology, Biochemistry. The team was advised by Dr. Solomon with support from graduate instructor and BE graduate student, Ethan Hillman.  Learn more about the project here (2 min video): https://video.igem.org/videos/watch/e0cf78dc-f2a7-4447-9fa1-215ab8db3456

Elizabeth Wachs, Bernard Engel. Reliability versus renewables: Modeling costs and revenue in CAISO and PJM. The Electricity Journal 33(10), doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2020.106860.

Naagarajan Narayanan, Zhihao Jia, Kun Ho Kim, Liangju Kuang, Paul Lengemann, Gabrielle Shafer, Victor Bernal-Crespo, Shihuan Kuang, Meng Deng. Biomimetic glycosaminoglycan-based scaffolds improve skeletal muscle regeneration in a Murine volumetric muscle loss model. Bioactive Materials 6(4), pp 1201-1213. doi.org/10.1016/j.bioactmat.2020.10.012.

Mercy A. Okezue, Mojisola C. Adeyeye, Steve J. Byrn, Victor O. Abiola, Kari L. Clase. Impact of ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory accreditation in sub-Saharan Africa: a case study. BMC Health Serv Res 20, 1065 (2020). doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05934-8.

Thomas Ransegnola, Farshid Sadeghi, Andrea Vacca. An Efficient Cavitation Model for Compressible Fluid Film Bearings. Trilogy Transactions, doi.org/10.1080/10402004.2020.1853864.Larissa Shirley, Morgan Burgett, Tyler Field, Allan P Schinckel, Kara R Stewart, Ricardo M Garcia, Jay S Johnson, Robert Stwalley. PSVIII-19 Evaluation of Cooling Pads on Late Lactating Sows. Journal of Animal Science 98, Issue Supplement 3, p 223. doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaa054.389.

Bing Zou, Albert J. Heber, Zhengxiang Shi, Songhuai Du*, Yaomin Jin, Teng Teeh Lim. Comparison of direct and indirect determinations of dynamic ventilation rate in a modern dairy free stall barn. Int J Agric & Biol Eng 13(6):41-46.

A. N. Rohith, Margaret W. Gitau, I. Chaubey & K. P. Sudheer. A multistate first-order Markov model for modeling time distribution of extreme rainfall events. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess doi.org/10.1007/s00477-020-01939-1.

Yu-Hsuan Lee, Kok Zhi Lee, Rachel G. Susler, Corren A. Scott, Longfei Wang, L. Sue Loesch-Fries, Michael T. Harris, and Kevin V. Solomon. Bacterial Production of Barley Stripe Mosaic Virus Biotemplates for Palladium Nanoparticle Growth. ACS Appl Nano Mater, 2020, doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.0c02570.

Robert J. Fetsch, Robert E. Petrea, Paul J. Jones, William E. Field, and Robert A. Aherin. A 25-Year Overview of AgrAbility Demographics. Journal of Agromedicine, DOI: 10.1080/1059924X.2020.1837318.

S. Pitla, S. Bajwa, S. Bhusal, T. Brumm, T. Brown-Brandl, D. Buckmaser, I. Condotta, J. Fulton, T. Janzen, M. Karkee, M. Lopez, R. Moorhead, M. Sama, L. Schumacher, S. Shearer, A. Thomasson. Ground and Aerial Robots for Agricultural Production: Opportunities and Challenges. Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), 2020. Issue Paper 70. CAST, Ames, Iowa.

Helber Antonio Esquivel-Puentes, Andrea Vacca, Leonardo P. Chamorro, Jose Garcia-Bravo, Humberto Bocanegra-Evans, Ali Doosttalab, David Warsinger, Luciano Castillo. Energy harvesting using horizontal axis wind turbines with hydrostatic transmission. Bulletin of The American Physical Society, 2020.

A A Hashem, B A Engel, V F Bralts, G W Marek. Assessment of Landsat-Based Evapotranspiration Using Weighing Lysimeters in the Texas High Plains. Agronomy 2020, 10(11), 1688; doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10111688.

Karthik Shankar, Pengcheng Wang, Ran Xu, Ashraf Mahgoub, Somali Chaterji. JANUS: Benchmarking Commercial and Open-Source Cloud and Edge Platforms for Object and Anomaly Detection Workloads. 2020 IEEE 13th International Conference on Cloud Computing (CLOUD).

Heartwin A. Pushpadass, Hrishikesh Mitra, F. Magdaline Eljeeva Emerald, Chinmay Ghoroi, R.P. Kingsly Ambrose, B. Surendra Nath. Physicochemical, thermal and flow properties of ice cream powder as influenced by moisture content. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, doi.org/10.1111/jfpp.15106.