Hail

Niels Thomas Childress Nyquist was born September 8, 2011, at 5:26 pm.

He weighed 8 lb, 14 oz. and is 21 3/4" long. He joins mom Amy Childress and dad Chell Nyquist, along with big brother Anders. Congratulations!

Michael, Zita, and John Holland welcomed Curtis Wayne Holland recently and came by
for a photo opp with Dr. Krutz.

Farewell

Rollin Strohman (PhD AE 1969)

Dr. Strohman, 71, a patient and passionate educator, brilliant and self-effacing thinker, practical and focused inventor, proud and loving father, faithful and supportive husband, loyal and generous brother and purveyor and model of integrity, died from acute leukemia Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, at home.

Rollin was born in 1939 in Geneseo, Ill., and attended country schools until seventh grade. After graduation from high school in Geneseo, he attended the University of Illinois and earned his master's degree in agricultural engineering. Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D. from Purdue University, his thesis, integrating biological formulas in the study of emerging field of drying shelled corn. His professional life was dedicated to educating the students of the Department of Agricultural Engineering (BRAE) at Cal Poly. Ready to help students who wanted to learn, his office was always open to the diligent.

Quickly adapting to new computer capability, he provided powerful resources to the college. Tirelessly attempting to provide training equipment, even as a Professor Emeritus, he traveled the country to receive grants of surveying and spectroscopic equipment for the benefit of Cal Poly. Even as a young man, Rollin showed an analytic and curious temperament. As a 4-H and FFA member he distinguished himself in projects and demonstrations. At college, he learned to fly a plane and was the first of his family''s generation to attend graduate school. He had a lifelong interest in agriculture, from the experimental plots of corn he planted in Illinois to the GIS mapping of forests in California. With collaborators, he created an online course in Precision Farming. He volunteered as an usher at the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly, where he especially enjoyed helping with programs for youth. As a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Los Osos, he patiently brought it into the computer age. Rollin loved his family very much and was so proud of his children and grandchildren. He spent time with his kids, especially influencing their interests in science, math, computers, agriculture and cross-country running. His primary worry was his wife's lack of computer skills. Rollin is survived by his wife of 42 years, Clare Strohman of Los Osos; daughter, Deena Strohman of St. Paul, Minn.; son, Trevor Strohman (Anne-Marie); and grandchildren Evan and Natalie of Sunnyvale, Calif.; brothers Roger Strohman of Galesburg, Ill., and Darrell Strohman (Linda) of Geneseo; sister, Joyce Strohman of Geneseo; sister-in-law, Marlene Strohman of Rockford, Ill.; and two uncles Don Strohman (Mary) of Erie, Ill., and Bob Strohman (May) of Tucson, Ariz.; and two beloved cats Joey and Charolette. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lawrence and Alberta Strohman; and brother, Loren Strohman. A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 490 Los Osos Valley Road in Los Osos. A family service will take place in Geneseo, Ill., with the burial of the ashes Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. In lieu of flowers, he'd be pleased to have donations sent in his honor to Youth Outreach for the Performing Arts Center (YOPAC), Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407; or Dept. of Bio-Resources and Agricultural Engineering, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407.

The CCEFP Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) held a meeting at Maha Fluid Power Lab on September 13 – 15. Thirty-seven IAB members met together with 4 members form the CCEFP Leadership team along with presenters from the University of Illinois and Purdue University to get updates in their research and discuss future research potential.

Buckmaster, DE, I. Chaubey, JR Frankenberger, BA Engel, D Flannagan, J. Krogmeier, and A. Ault. 2011. Mobile Computing Technologies to Enable More Efficient Water Management Decisions in the Field. NIFA National Integrated Water Quality Program Award. $395,000. This proposal was ranked among the best by the peer-review panel. Ninety-one proposals were submitted; 16 were recommended for funding.

Volenec, J., S. Brouder, P. Murphy, K. Orvis, R. Turco, I. Chaubey, K. Johnson, N. Olynk, C. Alexander, N. Carroll, R. Lerner, L. Prokopy, and C. Martin. 2011. Potential of grasses as environmentally responsible bioenergy crops. USDA NIFA. $25 million ($3.8 to Purdue).

The Maha Fluid Power Lab received $336,000 from Parker Hannifin to fund a new 2-year research project on advanced hydraulic systems. The Center was also awarded a new industry-sponsored project to continue work on displacement controlled actuation.

Dr. Monika Ivantysynova was invited as keynote speaker at the 4th International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics (ICMEM). Her keynote lecture, "Displacement control - the future of fluid power systems" was presented in Suzhou, PR China.

ASABE International Symposium on Erosion and Landscape Evolution (ISELE)
 The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) held an International Symposium on Erosion and Landscape Evolution (ISELE) in Anchorage, Alaska on September 18-21. Over 100 soil erosion scientists and students from around the world attended this decadal conference, organized by the Soil Erosion Control (SW-223) technical committee of ASABE. Dr. Dennis Flanagan, agricultural engineer at the USDA-ARS National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory (NSERL) and ABE adjunct professor was one of the lead members of the ISELE organizing committee, as well as a co-editor of the symposium proceedings.  Other NSERL staff participating in the symposium were IT specialist Jim Frankenberger, soil scientist and adjunct professor Dr. Darrell Norton, and Agronomy graduate student Kossi Nouwakpo. Abstracts and papers from the meeting are now available online on a CD-ROM, as well as at the ASABE online Technical Library.

Part of the ISELE was a field tour of the Anchorage area on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 20. This first stop was at Earthquake Park, an area of the city that experienced some of the worst damage from the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964 (This was the largest recorded magnitude quake in North America at 9.2 on the Richter scale.)  Soils beneath a residential development here liquified during the quake, and a number of homes were swept out into the Knik Arm (shown in background) resulting in many fatalities.  In this photo, ASABE President Sonia Maassal Jacobsen can be seen (right center, green jacket) participating on the tour.

Al Heber began his sabbatical visit to Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China last month.  Dr. Kaiying Wang and Al Heber are shown (below, left) working with the top hog producer in Zhejiang Province during a farm visit. Al and Gloria were guests at welcome dinner (below, right) with Dr. Yibin Yang, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environment Sciences, Dr. Songming Zhu, Dean of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, and Dr. Kaiying, Associate Professor.  Dr. Jiqin Ni will join Heber on October 8 and they will travel together to Beijing for a workshop and Chingqing for a conference.

Isaac Emery has been awarded the EPA Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Fellowship. This competitive award, initiated in 1995, is given to master's and doctoral level students in environmental fields of study. Funding is for three years, and usable over a period of five years. Approximately 1,600 STAR fellowships have been awarded since the inception of the program.  The program has proven to be beneficial to both the public and private sectors by providing a steady stream of well-trained environmental specialists to meet society's environmental  challenges (National Research Council 2003). Congratulations, Isaac!

The Maha Fluid Power Lab welcomes Naseem Daher, Dan Mizell, and Enrique Busquets who have recently joined the program as graduate students.

Pelosi, M. and Ivantysynova, M. 2011. A Geometric Multigrid Solver for the Piston/Cylinder Interface of Axial Piston Machines. Accepted for publication in the Journal of Tribology Transactions

Seeniraj, G. K., Zhao, M. and Ivantysynova, M. 2011. Effect of Combining Precompression Grooves, PCFV and DCFV on Pump Noise Generation. Accepted for publication in the International Journal of Fluid Power

Klop, R. and Ivantysynova, M. 2011. Investigation of Noise Sources on a Series Hybrid Transmision. Accepted for publication in the International Journal of Fluid Power

Hippalgaonkar, R., Zimmerman, J. and Ivantysynova, M. 2011. Investigation Of Power Management Strategies For A Multi-Actuator Hydraulic Hybrid Machine System. SAE 2011 Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress, Sep 13-14 2011, Rosemont, IL, USA. SAE Technical Paper 2001-01-2273.

The Maha Fluid Power Lab welcomed Jennifer Wu recently. Jennifer joins the lab as an undergraduate researcher.