Carmen Agouridis, associate professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, has launched KYH2O, a new podcast series about all things water in Kentucky. You can listen here.
 
Don Colliver, professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, and his graduate student Christian Taber, had their article “Thermal Comfort in Warehouses” selected as the feature technical article in the December issue of the ASHRAE Journal. Read the article here.
 
Steve Higgins, director of environmental compliance and assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, and Lee Moser, agricultural extension associate, are part of a team that was awarded a $36,094 UK Sustainability Challenge grant. Read more here.
 
Staci McGill, a master’s student in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, has been selected to participate in Catalyzing Advocacy for Science and Engineering in Washington, DC in March. Read more about the workshop here.
  
Alpha Epsilon is holding a book drive from now through March 30. You can promote literacy by donating used books to the International Book Project. Email biosystems and agricultural engineering assistant professor Jian Shi at j.shi@uky.edu for more information.
 
Carmen Agouridis, extension associate professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, is co-host of "KYH2O," a new podcast series produced by the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment that uses multiple lenses to examine the importance of water. Read more here.
 
The annual College of Engineering Awards Banquet sponsored by Tau Beta Pi took place April 9, 2019 at the Bill Gatton Student Center. Former UK President Lee Todd (BSEE 1968) gave the keynote address. See who won here.
   
Biosystems and agricultural engineering assistant professor Michael Sama was quoted in a McClatchey article titled “A tech revolution in agriculture is leaving some farmers without broadband behind.” Read the article here.
 
Maya Bentley, who graduated from UK in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in biosystems engineering, says we need more black female engineers. Watch her interview with “Behind the Woman.”
 
Rachel Boone, a 2019 UK chemical engineering graduate; Lauren Mehanna, a doctoral student from Lexington pursuing research in chemical engineering at UK; Ava Vargason, a 2017 UK chemical engineering graduate; and Stephen Wright, a 2019 UK mechanical engineering graduate were selected to receive government-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships. Tri Andrew Phan, a 2016 UK biosystems engineering graduate and Mujan Seif, a UK doctoral student in materials engineering received honorable mention recognition. Read more here.
 
Carmen Agouridis has been named associate dean for instruction for the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. An extension associate professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Agouridis is also director of the Stream and Watershed Science graduate certificate and co-director of the Environmental Engineering undergraduate certificate programs. Read more here.
  
Gabriel Abdulai, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, has been selected to receive the ASABE Nye Graduate Fellowship, which was established to encourage underrepresented minority graduate student members of ASABE to pursue graduate degrees in agricultural and biological engineering.
 
Steve Higgins, director of environmental compliance and assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, has received the 2019 Conservation Person of the Year Award, presented by the Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts.
 
James Tyler Nichols, who recently graduated from the University of Kentucky with bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and biosystems engineering, was featured by NASA for his excellent work as a NASA intern. The recognition came as part of NASA's National Intern Day celebration. Read more here.
 
Last month, CNET visited campus to learn about UK researchers employing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to monitor cattle health. Check out the article and video featuring faculty members Jesse Hoagg, Michael Sama and Josh Jackson, as well as Ph.D. student Zach Lippay. The project is funded by the USDA and will run through 2021.
 
Jesse Hoagg, Donald and Gertrude Lester Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has received a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to research using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the event of airborne contaminant dispersion. Mechanical engineering associate professors Sean Bailey and Alexandre Martin will serve as co-investigators, as will biosystems and agricultural engineering associate professor Michael Sama. Read more here.
   
Sue Nokes, professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Facilities, has begun serving a one-year term as president of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). Read more here.
 
Extension Associate Professor Carmen Agouridis has been recognized as the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education’s M.K. Dickerson Outstanding Educator for 2019. Among her notable projects were pollinator gardens on the University of Kentucky's campus, the outdoor classroom at Cassidy Elementary and the restoration of Vaughn's Branch Creek along Alumni Drive.
 
Carmen Agouridis and Eric Dawalt are working on a stream restoration project on the edge of campus. Read more here.
 
Gabriel Abdulai has been selected to receive the ASABE Nye Graduate Fellowship, which was established to encourage underrepresented minority graduate student members of ASABE to pursue graduate degrees in agricultural and biological engineering.
  
Biosystems and agricultural engineering graduate students Felix Akharume , Ryan Kalinoski and Staci McGill placed in the ASABE Oral/Poster Competition during the ASABE Annual International Meeting in Boston.
 
Sue Nokes, professor in the UK Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and associate dean for faculty affairs and facilities received the honor of 2019 Outstanding Alumnus for the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at North Carolina State University. She completed her Ph.D. there in 1990. Read more here.
 
Department of Mechanical Engineering associate professor Sean Bailey, along with mechanical engineering professor Suzanne Smith, biosystems and agricultural engineering associate professor Michael Sama and mechanical engineering graduate student Caleb Canter published an article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A that highlights several of their observations from drone measurements of the atmospheric properties during the 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse.
  
Carmen Agouridis, Extension Associate Professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, and Isabel Escobar, professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, are part of a $3 Million NSF Grant to support the next generation of Kentucky food, energy and water systems innovators. Read more here.
  
Biosystems and agricultural engineering assistant professor Akinbode Adedeji and DataBeam Professor Kevin Donohue are part of a team working to develop ways to keep healthy U.S. apples in the supply chain. Read more here.
   
Eden Shale Farm received the Environmental Pacesetter Award from the Department for Environmental Protection for biosystems and agricultural engineering assistant adjunct professor Steve Higgins' work emphasizing environmental stewardship and best management practices.
 
Doctoral candidate Michael Omodara attended the 2nd All Africa Postharvest Congress and Exhibition from September 17-20 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He presented a technical paper titled “Development of a Monitoring System to Access the Internal Environment of Bagged-Grain in Storage.”
 
Extension Professor Sam McNeill, who has done post-harvest loss reduction research since 1975, also attended the 2nd All Africa Postharvest Congress and Exhibition. McNeill judged poster entries/presentations by graduate students, co-authored three presentations, and networked with research colleagues from Ghana, Nigeria and the U.S.
  
Biosystems and agricultural engineering doctoral candidate Joe Stevens is one of two students attending the National Supercomputing Conference in Denver next month after winning a free trip during the 3rd annual Commonwealth Computational Summit, sponsored by UK’s Center for Computational Science. His poster submission presented work he did with the modeling group at Toulouse Biotechnology Institute during his recently concluded Chateaubriand Fellowship in Toulouse, France.
 
The University of Kentucky College of Engineering handed out Co-op/Intern of the Year Awards on October 25. The winners were nominated by their supervisors, and each received high praise from their employers. See the winners here.
 
Jordan Luciano and Chrissy Witt are co-captaining a DanceBlue team on behalf of the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering . To support the We Engineer FTK 2020 DanceBlue Team, visit their DanceBlue page here.