The world of farm shows continues to change.  The Indiana State Fair and the Indiana Farm Equipment and Technology Show are canceled and the Farm Progress Show and the Ohio Farm Science Review go virtual.  The next potential farm show on the calendar is in January in Fort Wayne: the Fort Wayne Farm Show.

Steve Swain, Indiana AgrAbility rural rehabilitation specialist, conducted several farm visits this month.  Three were with Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) clients receiving the installation of automatic hitches and an Action Track Stander.  Two were initial VR farm assessments. The other visits were with a veteran farmer and another farmer with a disability to put together a plan of action for acquiring accommodations thru VR.

From Darren Seidel (MS '17), PhD Candidate & NSF Fellow, Animal and Dairy Science, University of Georgia:

I wanted to write all of you and thank you for having a major impact on my experience at ABE and being the reason I am proud to be an ABE alum! Last week I applied for graduation here at the University of Georgia and should defend my dissertation in early to mid-November. I've had an amazing journey through academia, and I am looking forward to using my background in an industry role after graduation in December.

Congratulations, and all the best, Darren!

After hosting the last Versiti Blood Center drive on March 25 prior to the closure of campus, we hosted the first one since reopening on Thursday, August 20, 2020. We had an AMAZING 43 appointments made and despite the delays and the waiting (in the sun, no less!), we had 31 donors and 26 units of blood. Each unit can save up to three lives: 78 people may have been impacted by your faithfulness and willingness to help. Over 4,000 blood drives were cancelled between March and August, so the need is great. Thank you for stepping up. As an additional benefit, they are now testing all units for COVID-19 antibodies. If you tested positive, they will contact you privately and offer you the opportunity to donate convalescent plasma, possibly improving life for others who have contracted the virus.

We have received approval to host the next drive, again with Biological Sciences, on November 3. Watch for information! Boiler (and sleeves) up!

Swarnava Mukherjee, Lizhi Shang, Andrea Vacca. 2020. A fast approach for coupled fluid-thermal modeling of the lubricating interfaces of axial piston machines. 12th International Fluid Power Conference, Dresden, October 12-14, 2020. Di: 10.25368/2020.40.

ABE Graduate student Gargeya Vunnava won the Best Student Oral Presentation Award at the International Society of Industrial Ecology Americas 2020 Conference for his talk :  "Economic and energy impacts of wind energy expansion in the US using multi-regional input output (MRIO) tables". The conference was held virtually and Gargeya presented three talks. Thank you for representing us so well, Gargeya!

Rachel Scarlett received the 2020-2021 Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) National National Fellowship. The fellowship funds research for outstanding women in STEM and Social Science fields. Rachel received $10,000 to fund her research project "Participation in the Urban Riverscape: An Exploration of the Role of Rivers’ Rhythms," that "examines the combined influence of stream ecological integrity and the historical marginalization of communities on people's engagement in watershed management." Congratulations, Rachel!

Alyssa Easton, a senior in Biological Engineering, was chosen for the Martin Agriculture Research Fund Scholarship. Her mentor, Dr. Vikki Weake, will be helping on her project, "Characterization of the Consequences of R-loops on Survival of Aging Photoreceptor Neurons." Congratulations on this amazing recognition, Alyssa!

Chase Gripp, a senior in Agricultural Systems Management, was featured in the September/October issue of Resource magazine (page 11). (Click on the image to go directly to his page) We are proud of you, Chase!

Hailey Szadowski, a senior in BE, was part of the massive ProjectX Safe Campus this summer. ProjectX Safe Campus is "a five-week consulting experience over the summer to help the University work on solutions to create a meaningful and safe on-campus return this fall." Thank you, Hailey, for being such a great leader!