Steve Swain, ATP, the Rural Rehabilitation Specialist for the Indiana Agrability Project, presented two workshops at the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) conference in Orlando, Florida.  The first workshop titled Vocational Rehabilitation Services Specialty Crop Farm Accessibility Case Study examined the resources available to farmers and ranchers with disabilities and went through a case study of a specialty crop farmer.  The second presentation was Evaluating Agricultural Workplace Assistive Technology for Secondary Injury Hazards.  This presentation presented Sam Mathew’s assessment tool: Evaluating Agricultural Workplace Assistive Technology for Secondary Injury Hazards.

Indiana AgrAbility exhibited at the 2011 Indiana Horticulture Congress January 18-20 in Indianapolis.  The exhibit presented BNG resources/publications, information concerning arthritis in agriculture, and showed examples of adapted and ergonomic tools.  Attendees included agri-tourism enterprises, fruit and vegetable producers, and extension educators.  Over 850 people were registered for the conference.

Indiana AgrAbility once again staffed an exhibit at the 2011 Fort Wayne Farm Show in Fort Wayne, Indiana on January 19-22.   The show is the largest variety of farm equipment in the area and offers educational sessions presented by Purdue Cooperative Extension and the Northeast Indiana Soil and Water Conservation Districts.  The exhibit included BNG resources and publications, Arthritis and Agriculture information, and grain bin rescue information.  It was reported that attendance on Wednesday of the show exceeded 20,000 people.

Paul Jones staffed a BNG exhibit at the Indiana Rural Health Policy Forum in Indianapolis on January 18.  Attendees included government leaders, rural health leaders, and rural hospital administrators.

Kylie Hendress, BNG Outreach Coordinator, attended the first of several extension educator district meetings designed to create and enhance the awareness of BNG and our services.   Educators attending the meetings include agriculture and natural resources, consumer and family sciences, economic development, and 4-H. 

• Giovanni Campanella's presentation at SAE COMVEC 2010 (Modeling and Optimization of the Control Strategy for the Hydraulic System of an Articulated Boom Lift) has been selected as a recipient of the 2010 SAE Excellence in Oral Presentation Award! Congratulations, Giovanni!
• The paper "Electrohydraulic Proportional Valve Modeling Comprehending Magnetic Hysteresis", by Davide Cristofori and Andrea Vacca has been accepted for presentation at the 52nd National Conference on Fluid Power, Las Vegas, March 23-25, 2011

The ABE Academic Programs Committee had a number of excellent nominees. Please congratulate these outstanding students for being selected:

• Kat Gilbert - Outstanding Senior
• Ben Daily - Outstanding Junior
• Sean Kearney - Outstanding Sophomore
• Zane Graper - Outstanding Freshman

Good luck to these students in the next round of competition.

McLamore, E.S./Shi, J. (co-first author), Jaroch, D., Claussen, J., Uchida, A., Jiang, Y.J., Banks, M.K., Buhman, K.K., Teegarden, D., Rickus, J.L., Porterfield, D.M.*, 2010. A self referencing platinum nanoparticle decorated enzyme-based microbiosensor for real time measurement of physiological glucose transport. Biosensors and Bioelectronics.26(5), 2237-2245.

 Shi, J., McLamore, E.S., Jaroch, D., Claussen, J.C., Rickus, J.L., Porterfield, D.M.*, 2010. Oscillatory glucose flux in INS 1 pancreatic β cells: A self-referencing microbiosensor study. Analytical Biochemistry.

 Shi, J., Porterfield, D.M.*, Surface Modification Approaches for Electrochemical Biosensors. Biosensors for Health, Environment and Biosecurity / Book 1. Andrea, P., Intech, Vienna: in press.

Randy Eckel and Ashley Johnson represented the department at the Annual Fish Fry on Saturday, February 5, 2011. The keynote speaker was The Honorable Dale Glickman, Former Secretary of Agriculture.

A group of ABE 501 Welding Metallurgy students toured the Nucor Steel plant at the end of January. Wayne Jeffers hosted the group's tour of the Crawfordsville plant that recycles scrap steel into sheet steel products. It is a full-integrated steel mill with a furnace/melting division, a hot mill rolling division, and a cold mill rolling division. They melt down scrap steel, adding alloys and elements to create different grades of steel, pour it into a continuous caster that feeds it into the hot mills, where it is reduced in thickness and coiled into a roll of steel. It then goes to the cold mill for further thickness reduction and annealing/tempering to correct any mechanical properties. During the more than 3-hour tour, the students saw an industrial environment that uses many different machines and processes covered in their ABE course work (gearboxes, hydraulics, other power transmission equipment).

Michael Peter Mailander, December 17, 2010

The Louisiana State University community lost one of its dedicated faculty members on Dec. 17, when Michael Peter Mailander, associate professor in biological and agricultural engineering, passed away from natural causes.
Mailander, 56, was born in Denver on Nov. 20, 1954. He was the fifth child of Leo and Marie (Ortner) Mailander. He attended Holyoke Grade School and was a 1973 graduate of Holyoke High School. He was a member of National Honor Society and lettered in football, wrestling and track.

In 1985, Mailander accepted a position as assistant professor in LSU's Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department. In 1991, Mailander was promoted to an associate professor, where he specialized in controls and sensors, fluid power, precision farming, machine design, power hydraulics and bio-energy. He taught a variety of engineering classes, where his passion for teaching and interacting with students was most evident, and completed a number of research projects. Mailander held patents for the automatic control of a combine threshing cylinder and feeder conveyor, as well as for an automatic ground speed controller. As a recipient of the Boettcher Foundation Scholarship, he obtained a bachelor's degree in engineering science and mathematics from Regis College in Denver in 1977. From Purdue University, he obtained a master's degree in engineering in 1979 and a Ph.D. in agricultural engineering in 1985.

Mailander was active in Christ the King Parish, LSU's Catholic Center, in Baton Rouge, where he was a communion minister, lector and an RCIA catechist. He participated in missions to Mexico where he helped build a school and a church. He also brought LSU students to help in building a library in Adana, Turkey. He was the advisor and willing worker for LSU Habitat for Humanity. In addition, Mailander was a regular volunteer, preparing and serving food at a men's shelter.