Our next drive will be Thursday, August 27, in ABE 301  from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm. Please make your appointment if you are able to donate. If you donated at the July 2 drive, you are eligible for this drive as well.

You'll have someone's undying gratitude! Contact Carol Weaver  if you have problems making your appointment.

The Breaking New Ground team received an ASABE Blue Ribbon for the www.agrability.org website. It was the only website recognized this year by ASABE.

ABE Ag Safety and Health will be co-sponsoring an Agricultural Safety and Health Forum on September 18 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm at the Beck Educational Center. For more information, check out www.farmsafety.org.

The Breaking New Ground Outreach Program/Indiana AgrAbility staffed a display in the FFA Pavilion during the Indiana State Fair August 3-19, 2012.  The display included a John Deere tractor with a Life Essentials lift, Arthritis and Agriculture, Tools to Make Your Life Easier, and various publications.  Volunteers and BNG staff interacted with state fair attendees both young and old, to answer questions and give a lift to individuals on the tractor lift.

The National AgrAbility Project staffed a display in the Health and Safety Tent at the 2012 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa August 28-30, 2012. The display included the NAP pop-up display, Arthritis and Agriculture, Tools to Make Your Life Easier, and various publications. Life Essentials also had a display which included the John Deere tractor with a Pilot lift. The show attracts up to 150,000 people and over 150 exhibitors. Next year the show will return to Decatur, Illinois August 27-29, 2013.

Two of our current grad students have been chosen as Fellows for 2012: Caitlin Grady and Fuschia Hoover. Congratulations on shining brightly for ABE!

Coming + Going

Dongjune Kim successfully defended his master's thesis entitled: "Contribution to the Digital Prototyping of Axial Piston Pump/Motor." Dongjune has left Maha to return home, and his expertise on pump/motor digital prototyping will be missed, but his contributions will further lab research for years to come!

Maha welcomes new members Natalie Spencer (Master’s Student), Ashley Wondergem (Direct PhD Student), and Jan Schmidt (Visiting Researcher through IAESTE) to the lab. All three are working with the innovative and diverse pump/motor modeling group.

Maha Abroad

Paul Kalbfleisch (PhD Student) and Mike Sprengel (PhD Student) presented on “Noise Reduction in Hydraulic Axial-Piston Pumps and Motors” and “System Architecture of Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles”, respectively, at the International Scientific Research Conference on Machine Dynamics and Vibro Acoustics in Samara, Russia.

Marco Zecchi (PhD Student) presented on “Noval Approaches to Predict Cylinder Block/Valve Plate Interface Performance” at the prestigious Bath/ASME Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control.

Special Recognitions

Congratulations to Guido Ritelli (PhD Student) for receiving the Graduate Mentor of the Summer Award at the 2012 SURF Research Symposium for his work with Roy Fisher (Purdue Undergraduate). Fisher’s project was “Energy Characterization of Over-Center Valves.”

Matteo Pelosi (PhD, 2012) received the 2011 Bath/ASME Fluid Power & Motion Control Best Paper award! Congratulations to our recent graduate on his belated outstanding accomplishment.

This competition is an opportunity for Purdue students to create and market new industrial products made from soybeans or soybean components and compete with other Purdue teams with an overall winner named at the Awards ceremony in March.

Last year the top prize was $20,000. Free Jimmy John's subs and pizza will be served. Promotional prizes are given to all who attend. Visit www.soycorninnovation.com to learn more. Come on your own or bring a friend - teams may be formed!

Kirsten Paff spent her summer as an intern with the CenUSA Bioenergy Research Project. A poster that she created during that time will be shown at this year's National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) annual meeting. Congratulations, Kirsten!