BAE Connections | 2015 Spring

Connections

University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment | College of Engineering Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Vol. 4, Spring 2015

Inside...

Protecting Our Surface Waters Kentucky Radon Awareness E-Day Recap Reducing Postharvest Loss in West Africa Student Recruitment Weekend Picture: Alpha Epsilon Initiation Ceremony Student Spotlight Alumni Spotlight Recognitions Staff Spotlight: The Ag Weather Center Team Grants & Awards Last Glance: BAE’s ‘Wildcat’

The UK Ag Weather Center: Ahead of the Times

By Donnie J. Stamper The seventies gave us disco, the author of this story, and the Ag weather program. In 1978 Tom Priddy was hired to assist on a corn irrigation project at Spindletop Research Farm. Around the same time another project known as Green Thumb was proposed and helped to establish the Agricultural Weather Center. This new project was not the garden variety green thumb, but a program that would bring farmers across the country on-demand production, market, futures, and weather information. A large player in the development of this system was the College of Agriculture’s (now known as CAFE) Cooperative Extension Service, Agricultural Communications Department, Ag Economics Department, and our department’s Ag Weather Center (now located on the second floor of the Barnhart Building). In 1978 an agreement was reached, allowing for the development of the pilot Continued on page 4

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Welcome from the BAE Connections Editorial Committee Greetings Alumni and Friends, Since our latest edition of BAE Connections, we survived the record setting snows and frigid temperatures of Snowpocalypse and are on our way to having one of the wettest springs on record. How fitting that our cover story features the UK Ag Weather Center – our “go to” place for all things weather related in Kentucky!

In this newsletter, we focus on extension, bringing you information on exciting projects our faculty, staff, and students are working on in the areas in the areas of environmental protection, urban farming, postharvest grain loss reduction, radon, and student recruitment. Come meet current students and rekindle relationships with former ones, learning interesting facts about the BAE family in our “Did You Know” section, and help us celebrate in our Grants and Awards and Recognitions sections.

We hope you will find ways to become more involved with the department. If you are interested in helping with senior capstone projects or class tours, providing internships, speaking to our ASABE student branch, helping with an Alpha Epsilon service project, or just stopping by for lunch, please let us know. We would love to hear from you! You can also stay connected to BAE by visiting us at www.uky.edu/bae and at our social media feeds (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube). If you have time on May 1, join us for lunch at the spring Alumni Advisory Board meeting, when we will fire up the grill in celebration of the arrival of warmer weather.

Sincerely, Carmen Agouridis, Ph.D., P.E.

Protecting Our Surface Waters

By Carmen Agouridis, Ph.D., P.E. | Associate Professor Reducing the impacts of nonpoint source or diffuse pollution is a challenging task. Best management practices (BMPs) are often used to minimize the effects of NPS on the environment. To help meet this challenge, Richard Warner, Ph.D., has developed a new BMP called a weep berm. A weep berm is an earthen berm that is constructed down-gradient of NPS generating activities and is subsequently vegetated with grass. The weep berm captures runoff and then slowly and passively dewaters it.

For small storms, all runoff is captured and infiltrated behind the weep berm. For larger storms, water is captured and infiltrated but some water is also discharged to a grassed filter or forest for filtration and infiltration.

As a passive treatment BMP, weep berms are highly effective at reducing runoff volumes, attenuating peak flows, and improving water quality through settling and filtration.

To date, Warner has successfully used weep berms in numerous settings to reduce NPS including horse muck composting and storage facilities in central Kentucky, Appalachian surface coal mining operations, and land clearing activities at commercial construction sites.

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Student Recruitment Weekend

By Amanda Hickman | Graduate Research Assistant

In this issue...

Cover, Pages 4 -5

The UK Ag Weather Center: Ahead of the Times

Pages 4-5

Cover; Students Build New Relationships at E-Day

The annual graduate student recruitment weekend, held February 6-8, was very successful, despite weather-related flight delays caused by heavy snowstorms. Five out-of-town and five local students participated, getting to know each other, current graduate students, and faculty through several school-focused and social events. The potential students also got to see first-hand the current research being conducted on our campus and surrounding areas.

Page 2-3

A casual breakfast Friday with current graduate students kicked off the weekend, followed by meetings with potential graduate advisors from their selected areas. After meetings and Seminar, students mixed with individuals in the department during our Chili Cook-Off. After lunch, they toured the labs to get a feel for current and potential research, and the kinds of projects students could have a part in.

After touring BAE labs, they toured campus by car. After some much needed rest, they enjoyed dinner at Sal’s Chophouse followed by late-night fun at Marikka’s. Saturday, the students were up early for farm tours and a tour of the Kentucky Horse Park featuring the department’s current environmental engineering projects. That evening, all of the potential graduate students had dinner at Ramsey’s with current graduate students. After a jam-packed weekend, the students departed Sunday morning or afternoon with a better understanding of the research here at BAE, and also of the tight knit department we have.

Page 8-9

‘Farm Shop’ Project Supports Urban Chicken Farming

By Karin Pekarchik | Extension Specialist Senior In Dr. John Wilhoit’s AEN 252 Farm Shop class, students learn basic plumbing, welding, electrical wiring, and wood construction skills. This semester, they are building two chicken coops for Lexington-based CLUCK!, which promotes responsible urban chicken keeping. One coop will be raffled off at the “Tour de Coops 2015,” an annual spring crawl to Lexington chicken coops; the second will go to a low-income family. Built to house three to four chickens using primarily donated lumber and supplies, the coops were intentionally built to fit on the back of a pick-up truck and to be moveable, with screws the most expensive part of the $100 budget. Woodford Feed donated chicken wire and is contributing a coupon for a bag of chicken feed for the raffle winner. Lexington’s Habitat for Humanity ReStore contributed particle board and lumber; and Glasscock Log & Lumber in Bloomfield, Ky., provided cedar boards that are being used to sheathe part of the coop’s exterior. Jordan Preston, a Technical Systems Management student, is donating used tin roofing.

Pages 6-7

Page 10-11

Welcome; Protecting Our Surface Waters; Student Recruitment Weekend; ‘Farm Shop’ Project Supports Urban Chicken Farming

Student & Alumni Spotlight Reducing Postharvest Loss in West Africa; Kentucky Radon Awareness

Grants and Awards; Recognitions; Did You Know?; Staff Focus: Matt Dixon, Tom Priddy, Wanhong Wang; B.S. and M.S. Graduates; Arrivals; Departures; Alumni Advisory Board Listing

BAE Connections is published twice a year by the University of Kentucky Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department, an Equal Opportunity Organization. The newsletter is produced by BAE in partnership with Alpha Epsilon. ©2015.

BAE Connections Editorial Committee

Director: Sue Nokes, Ph.D., P.E. Advisor: Carmen Agouridis, Ph.D., P.E. Editor, Designer: Karin Pekarchik Alumni Advisor: Elizabeth Bullock, P.E. Writers: Carmen Agouridis, Ph.D., P.E., Bobby Carey, Hana Hafer, Amanda Hickman, Beverly K. Miller, MArch, Architect, Karin Pekarchik, Donnie J. Stamper, Richard Warner, Ph.D. Photography: Special thanks to Dr. Michael Huang, Steve Patton and Matt Barton from CAFE Agricultural Communications, and BAE faculty/ staff for granting permission to use photographs.

Please submit story ideas, questions, or comments to carmen.agouridis@uky.edu or karin.pekarchik@ uky.edu.

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Cont. from cover program that would go “green” in March of 1980 and bring agricultural information to one hundred farmers in each of two Kentucky counties, Shelby and Todd. Although very common today, farmers viewed this information on their television, by accessing county computers using their telephone line. The system was designed with a central-state HP mini-computer, feeding two county microcomputers (Western Union GS200) that were accessed by a “Green Thumb Box” developed in partnership with the Tandy Corporation. The Green Thumb Box was connected to the farmer’s phone line and television and controlled by a keypad that allowed farmers to choose the options they wanted to view.

The Green Thumb pilot test lasted one year, but in 1983 a new program known as AGTEXT was established.

AGTEXT would again involve various College of Ag departments and was based on a program in Iowa known as Agricultural Information Data System. The AGTEXT office worked with Kentucky Educational Television to distribute line-21, or closed captioning information, to anyone across the state of Kentucky and Southern Indiana. The same information provided by Green Thumb was available through AGTEXT; the difference was in the delivery. AGTEXT was distributed daily on a schedule, just like any other TV programming. This information was updated multiple times a day, Monday through Friday. On the weekends, while other portions of AGTEXT were being repeated, the weather forecast was updated in real time. The AGTEXT program lasted until 2000, when it was shut down because of Y2K and the advent of the Internet.

In the early 1990’s the Ag Weather Center began to distribute information on Gopher servers. The Gopher protocol was created at the University of Minnesota and was similar to the Internet, but originally was not part of the World Wide Web. The Ag Weather forecast could be viewed using a browser, such as Netscape.

At the same time, the Ag Weather Center was developing a UNIX-based program knows as PAWS (Public Agriculture Weather System). The Ag Weather Center, whose mission is to minimize weather-related surprises due to agricultural needs while trying new ways to get information out to the public, saw the PAWS technology as a must (and what kind of Wildcat doesn’t use Paws?). PAWS allowed people to connect their computer over their phone line to the UNIX servers and download the information they wanted, when they wanted.

Eventually the World Wide Web was firmly established and Tom Priddy and his Ag Weather Center personnel found new ways to get weather-related information to the people of Kentucky. Since those early days, they have developed a large website with loads of information. At one point, a webcast was developed and distributed daily. This job was made easier when Dr. Wanhong Wang, Ph.D., automated the process. At the encouragement of Tom, Wanhong has put his programming knowledge to work in other areas. Working with Extension Plant Pathologist John Hartman, Ph.D., and the Department of Horticulture’s Extension Professor John Strang, Ph.D., Wanhong developed a program that was the first in the country to forecast plant disease and insect predictions. The program, http:// weather.uky.edu/plant_disease.html, which is very beneficial to fruit farmers, has the ability to forecast plant diseases four days in advance. Another creation that Wanhong played a large part in was the development of the UKAWC PointAgCast/Severe Weather Info, http://weather.uky.edu/ky/forecast. php#Point_Ag_Forecast. This program combines the National Weather Service Digital Forecast Database with Google maps and allows the user to click anywhere in the contiguous U.S. and get a seven-day Ag forecast. Wanhong has also built a cluster of 20 computers used to run numerous weather models. Ten units are used to run the Weather Research Forecast model and

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three other units run a Gempack model that produces 25,000 maps a day (not a typo)!

Metereologist Matt Dixon works closely with university administration on a couple of important matters. On all football game days, he can be found at Commonwealth Stadium monitoring for severe weather outbreaks and advising officials on how to proceed. Matt also has influence on when faculy, staff, and students come to work. This winter he advised the administration, police, PPD, and other departments, which led to most of UK receiving a few extra days off from work or school because of the snow and cold temperatures. Matt and Tom also work with the National Weather Service on when to issue frost advisories and/or freeze warnings.

These warnings could be issued every day during the winter, but Matt and Tom base their warnings on a combination of temperature and crop development. Earlier this month a frost advisory was issued due to peaches and strawberries in bloom, in addition to some winter wheat that was moving into the jointing stage. They provide information to the U.S. Drought Monitor relating to agricultural drought in Kentucky. Depending on the temperature they issue livestock stress warnings, and they work with the USDA to provide crop progress and condition reports. Matt and Tom also teach BAE 461G Biometerology every spring.

Through all the changes and advances in technology, the department’s best kept secret has been to be able to keep ahead of the times, due in part to people like Tom, Wanhong, and Matt.

Overseeing all the Ag Weather Center’s changes for almost 38 years has been Tom Priddy, who is thankful to have quality associates like Wanhong and Matt, and is quick to credit others, saying he has been “very lucky to have had great support from the BAE department chairs and college administration.” (See “Staff Focus,” page 8.)

Students Build New Relationships at E-Day

By Hana Hafer | Social Chair, BAE Student Branch The BAE Student Branch is proud to have another successful E-day in the books! This year, on February 28, about 35 BAE students gathered to show the Lexington community the many things our department does. As guests filed in, they were met with a thermal camera, lasers in agriculture, the components of a healthy stream, and a popcorn machine.

Continuing through the room, community members were introduced to robots in agriculture, and watershed after rainstorms. Finally, guests were able to grab a stick of cotton candy, study what wetlands do, and learn how to grow their own energy. At each of our exhibits, BAE students and faculty were showing and teaching guests — everyone from energetic children to prospective students and inquisitive adults. Our students explained how each exhibit related to a major field of Biosystems Engineering and shared how they could learn more. As the event wound down, students and faculty enjoyed lunch together and cotton candy.

As always, E-day was an opportunity for our department to be well represented as well as a great way for students to get to know each other better. We believe our attendance and popularity reached an all-time high this year, and we are so thankful for everyone’s hard work and volunteered time. See you again next year!

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Student & Alumni Spotlight

By Amanda Hickman and Bobby Carey

Christoper Watkins, BAE senior Not many engineering students can handle the extra pressure of holding an office in a student organization, let alone two presidential offices! However, our own Christopher Watkins, BAE senior, is the current president of the BAE Student Branch, and also president emeritus of the Triangle Fraternity. A Versailles native, he was initially interested in mining engineering but found his true passion for biosystems engineering after taking a biology class for fun. Christopher stayed involved in the leadership of his fraternity, which led to an interest in the leadership opportunities in Student Branch. Through Student Branch, Christopher has been able to form close relationships with both faculty and peers, all while gaining more experience working with a team toward a common goal--to get students involved in the department. During his undergraduate career, Christopher has made sure to include traveling and studying abroad to his experiences. Last summer, Christopher spent time in Vicosa, Brazil, through a program our department has with the Universidade Federal de Vicosa.

He also traveled to Canada to visit a friend who is studying food process engineering, and he has plans to visit Budapest, where another friend is attending school.

Rita Davis, Stantec, Senior Project Engineer Former BAE student Rita (Vail) Davis is now a senior project engineer at Stantec, in Louisville, where she works on a variety of projects, with many relating to stream restoration or Clean Water Act Permitting. “Depending on the project, I get to fulfill different roles, whether it be initial project planning, design, permitting, construction observation, or monitoring,” Rita says.

Her typical day in the office involves design work, application or report writing, or performing various analyses. However, Rita also spends time in the field conducting geomorphic surveys, stream and wetland delineations, construction observation for stream restoration projects, or monitoring the performance of constructed stream projects.

Due to the extent of the projects and tasks she handles at work, Rita acknowledges that the education she received while at BAE and part-time employment in the department prepared her with a broad range of skills. In particular, she feels that Dr. Agouridis’ Stream Restoration, Dr. Edwards’ Design Hydrology and Sedimentology, and Dr. Wells’ Senior Design really prepared her for a career. Rita encourages students to stay open about the field of study they are interested in; she didn’t take stream restoration until later in her college career and found out it was the perfect fit for her.

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Her professors were also a huge help in getting hired; in order to prepare her for post-college interviews, Dr. Warner prepped Rita for interviews following graduation. Rita explained, “Your professors want to see you thrive and succeed, so most are more than willing to do what they can to help prepare you for the real world.”

Outside of work, Rita stays busy with her two-year-old daughter Nora, and enjoys reading, hiking, and travelling. She’s also working toward obtaining passport stamps from all of the national parks.

Oakes Routt, Stantec, Senior Project Engineer Oakes Routt is a Senior Project Engineer within Stantec’s Ecosystem Restoration Practice in Louisville. Oakes’ time spent in BAE prepared him for his job. “The combination of water, soil, mechanical, processing, and electrical classes provided me the basic tools necessary to face and take the initial steps towards solving any problem that has been presented to me in my career,” he explains.

He started working on mostly geotechnical projects while gaining some experience in municipal water distribution and sanity sewer assessment.

However, for the past five years nearly all of his workload has consisted of ecosystem restoration projects. Currently, he focuses on leading stream and wetland restoration design and construction projects, geomorphic assessments, watershed assessments, and has recently become involved with dam removal projects. Not only is he involved with technical aspects and construction of these projects, he is also responsible for marketing, client management, project development, project procurement, and project management.

Oakes’ ecosystem restoration efforts don’t stop when he clocks out from work; he and his wife have purchased several farms that total nearly 260 acres of pasture, row crops, and forest. He is continuously working to be the best land and water steward as practical, establishing and managing nearly 30 acres of native warm season grasses. He also has a network of food plots where he experiments with a vegetation rotation to eliminate synthetic fertilizer application and reduce susceptibility to drought. Oakes has been challenged with about 170 acres of forest that has been mismanaged in the past. He is constantly practicing Timber Stand Improvement techniques and plants hundreds of trees annually, most of which are seedlings he raises from seeds or acorns.

All of this extra work is labor intensive, expensive, and time consuming; however, he is taking a stand and putting in the effort to be a good steward of the land.

MayAlumni Advisory Board Meeting

Graduation

ASABE Quarter Scale Tractor Competition Christina Lyvers’ Wedding July

ASABE Annual Meeting Fourth of July

August

Kentucky State Fair Back to School

September

Ag Round-Up

Enjoy your summer!

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Reducing Postharvest Loss in West Africa Sam McNeill, P.E. | Agriculture Extension Professor As an Associate Extension Professor I have been involved in grain production and post-harvest processing systems in the U.S. since receiving an M.S. from UK in 1979, but my professional interest and expertise have also taken me much farther afield, allowing me to work on a USDA project to provide educational programs in Nigeria and Ghana to help reduce post-harvest losses of grain crops and provide food security for the region. The genesis of this activity was from the Agricultural Attaché with the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria who worked with the USDA Foreign Ag Service, to initiate the first activity in October 2009. The team of three scientists that was formed initially has since provided training to 288 grain farmers, merchants, and processors, government agency representatives, and educators in extension and universities in both West African countries.

Another opportunity to reduce post-harvest losses of grains in Ghana was created when I was asked to join a team of ten experts from U.S. land-grant universities for the USAID Feed the Future Innovative Lab to Reduce Postharvest Losses of Grains (http://www.reducephl.org/). The team spent two weeks in Ghana in May and December last year to assess postharvest loss of maize in the Middle Belt and Northern Regions, respectively.

Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture reports that Ghana’s annual maize crop accounts for $430 million.

According to the FAS, Ghana has experienced a steep uptick in production in recent years, increasing to 2.1 million MT, while consumption is pegged at 1.7 MMT. Maize is by far the largest commodity crop produced by Ghana, accounting for a lion’s share (74%) of the country’s total cereal consumption. However, post-harvest losses are estimated to be 30% on average so, clearly, improvement of drying and storage conditions, and reduction in insects, rodents, and aflatoxins or other mycotoxins found in moldy foods that adversely affect and can severely sicken children, humans, and animals who ingest them, could have a lasting impact on food security, nutrition and household income.

When visiting with farmers in their villages during our assessment trips, the Team learned of some creative ways to fund and build sustainable grain drying and storage facilities. It’s rewarding to see men and women working together to devise local solutions to local problems that can be scaled up by others.

During the Ghana Project Team’s five year project, we aim to identify and scale up existing tactics that are proven to reduce postharvest losses along the value chain, conduct research, train small holder farmers, grain merchants, stored grain managers and others, introduce new technologies, and improve postharvest management strategies for small-, medium-, and large-scale storage warehouses.

Farmers in Ghana have a significant opportunity to improve current yields and thereby increase food security at multiple levels. Moisture measurement, pest infestation and suppression, and proper drying before storage are specific areas of research that will be studied. Additionally, the group will study the role of women in Ghana’s maize production and management and human nutrition.

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Kentucky Radon Awareness Beverly K. Miller, MArch, Architect | Agriculture Extension Associate Senior Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is released during the natural decay of the element uranium. Radon was discovered in 1898 and became an indoor air quality concern in the 1980’s. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ranked all counties and states in the United States by their potential for radon. There are three radon zones identified by the EPA: Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3.

Zone 1 geographic areas have the highest potential for radon. Kentucky is ranked a Zone 1.

One factor that affects the potential for radon is geology. Karst geology is likely the factor that most contributes to Kentucky’s Zone 1 rank.

Karst landscapes are commonly characterized by sinkholes, sinking streams, closed depressions, subterranean drainage, large springs and caves. Of course, Kentucky is now famous for the sinkhole that swallowed vintage Corvettes; that sinkhole is an example of karst Used with permission, Michael J. geology.

Garen © 2015

Robert Fehr’s team has developed Cooperative Extension Service (CES) programming to deliver educational programs and literature to Kentuckians. An educational radon display has been developed and is being used at events across Kentucky. A radon educational program for the public has also been developed, along with a training program for Cooperative Extension Service agents and staff. The display and educational program were developed under a grant from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Department for Public Health. The radon display is presented and staffed primarily by Gerald Hash. His display has been at events as large as the 2014 Kentucky State Fair and at local events from the Nature Fest is Hopkinsville, Kentucky to the UK Robinson Station Field Day in Jackson, Kentucky. Beverly Miller has developed the radon educational program, Invisible, Odorless, Tasteless: Kentucky Radon Awareness and its companion training program for CES staff. The program focuses on teaching people what radon is, its health implications, how to reduce radon levels in existing homes and how new homes can be built to be radon resistant.

Cooperative Extension Service training has begun. Trainings were offered to Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) professionals in February 2015. Thirty-eight Extension professionals attended the trainings which were held in Christian and Clark counties. Additional trainings will be scheduled in the coming months and will be delivered either in person or via webinar. One training participant commented that “this is scary.” It is true, radon is scary. Radon is invisible, odorless and tasteless. Radon is known to cause lung cancer in humans. But you do not have to be scared. Every home should be tested for radon and action should be taken to reduce elevated radon levels. The CES programs that have been developed educate people so they will know how to test their home for radon and what to do if they have elevated radon levels. By doing so, the program fulfills Extension’s mission of extending knowledge and changing lives. In this case, it may also be saving lives.

FCS agents who attended training in February have begun delivering radon education programs in their counties. FCS agent Edith Lovett presented radon programs during April in Pulaski County. Her work included participation at the Earth Day event held on Somerset Community College’s campus on April 19.

Madison County FCS agent Gina Noe is also using Miller’s program materials. She had a radon display at the health fair held on Eastern Kentucky University’s campus on April 15.

Miller’s training program includes numerous teaching tools and activities for agents to use with their clientele. Many of the teaching tools and activities are currently available on the Department’s website at www.uky.edu/bae/energy-programs.

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Grants and Awards Assistant Professor Akinbode Adedeji received a Food Connection Student Opportunity Grant in the amount of $3,995 for “Optimizing Deep-fat Frying of Sweet Potato.”

Assistant Professor Akinbode Adedeji, Associate Professor Carmen Agouridis, Assistant Professor Joe Dvorak, and Extension Associate Senior Karin Pekarchik each received eLearning Innovation Initiative (eLII) Awards in the amount of $4,000.

Associate Professor Carmen Agouridis and Extension Professor Richard Warner received a 2014-15 TIFF Award in the amount of $10,000.

Joey Jackson received a Diversity Teaching and Research Fellowship in the amount of $7,500.

Extension Professor Emeritus Doug Overhults received a $20,000 grant from the Kentucky Department of Energy Development and Independence for “Biomass Heating Evaluation for Poultry Farms.”

Extension Associate Senior Karin Pekarchik received a Kentucky NSF EPSCoR Education, Outreach and Communication Award in the amount of $10,000 to support two workshops during the summer of 2015.

Assistant Professor Michael Sama, and undergraduate students Aaron Shearer, Robin Caudill, Seth Hubbard, and Jade Walker received the 2016 Barnhart Fund for Excellence Award, which will support fabrication and testing of a prototpe front loader weighing system.

Associate Extension Professor John Wilhoit received a $14,906 grant from Southern SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) for on-farm research program. “A New Appropriate Technology Machine System to Benefit the Sustainability of Local Organic Vegetable Production,” will focus on a three-wheeled machine system using furrow guidance.

Recognitions Whitney Blackburn-Lynch received an Outstanding Graduate Student Poster Presentation award for “Comparison of Regional Curves for Hydrologic Landscape Regions in the Continental U.S.” Carmen Agouridis, Ph.D., and Joanna Foreseman, who graduated from BAE in 2014, are co-authors.

Associate Extension Professor Samuel G. McNeill, Ph.D., was presented with an award for 35 years of service to the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service by the Kentucky Association of State Extension Professionals.

Extension Professor Emeritus Doug Overhults has been named to the Rural Builder Hall of Fame by Rural Builder magazine.

Tahnee Qualls received an Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation award for “Developing a Methodology to Determine Antibiotic Concentrations in Runoff Samples.” Carmen Agouridis, Ph.D., and Manish Kulshrestha, Ph.D., are co-authors.

Extension Professor Richard Warner, Ph.D. has received the 2015 Lyle V. A. Sendlein Award for Outstanding Contributions in Water Resources Practice from the Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute.

Did you know?

Alicia Modenbach and Mike Sama both were married three days apart in 2010 and had their first child within 12 hours of each other in 2015. Doug Carr is one heck of a smoker – ribs, brisket, turkeys... John Wilhoit has done a bit of chain-saw carving in the past, and he’s looking forward to getting back to it in the near future.

Czar Crofcheck’s grandfather was also a professor at UK in Electrical Engineering. Richard Warner loves cats – he eats tuna and sardines daily. Nicole Koeninger passed her defense and moved to San Antonio to work for the San Antonio River Authority! Tim Stombaugh has a train collection that includes over 350 feet of O-gage trains with some pieces dating back to the 1920’s.

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Staff Focus: Matt Dixon, Tom Priddy, Wanhong Wang Matt Dixon worked on a horticultural farm in Southwest Indiana for about ten years before he began pursuing a degree in atmospheric science at Purdue University. He completed his graduate work at Mississippi State, earning a master’s in geosciences with a concentration in applied meteorology. Three years ago, he was hired

by UK as a meteorologist. He’s always updating the forecasts and on a weekly basis through the growing season, Matt writes a Kentucky climate summary for the USDA Crop Progress and Condition Report. He also provides weather support for UK football games, even updating referees and coaches pregame on the current weather situation. He’s also the guy who briefs UK President Capiluto and others across the University when there is a winter weather event, so thank him for this year’s snow days!

A 1979 graduate of Purdue University, Tom Priddy came to the University of Kentucky after a short stint working in Fort Collins, Colo., on “Now Cast,” a Weather Channel-like program that aired on educational television. His master’s work focused on improving the dissemination of information in Mississippi’s cotton industry, so his whole career has focused on developing better ways to share information. After 38 years in the department, he has worked on a multitude of projects, but all, in one way or another, served the department’s overall mission: providing agricultural weather services to farmers and farm families.

Dr. Wang has been writing programs and managing computers and servers for the UK Ag Weather Center since 1999. He started programming as a graduate student in China in the 1980s, and he was hired to solve the Y2K problems. That was actually a big problem, because there were a lot of databases and he had to rewrite the programs. He buys computer parts on the cheap and assembles a computer himself, even reusing older hardware to save a buck. Some of the computer programming languages he uses regularly include PHP, Perl, JavaScript, HTML, C languages, Python, and Fortran. He also speaks English, Chinese, and German.

B.S. (Spring/Summer 2015)

M.S.

Victor Amelang Ethan Bailey Richard Barber Matthew Fogle Steven Gail Charles Hutchinson Bushra Manzar Shahid Manzar Zahid Manzar

Bobby Carey John Evans Dave Griffith Amanda Hickman Nicole Koeninger Derek Scott Evan Simon Yue Zhang

Tanner McKenzie Rachel Norton Kayla Revell Morgan Sayre Thomas Wilson Katharine Wolf Lindsey Wolfe Dillon Gene Watts

Arrivals Bobby Carey Nader Ekramirad Amanda Hickman Ahmed Rady Manjot Singh

Departures 2015 Alpha Epsilon Induction Ceremony

Clara Heisterberg Nicole Koeninger Julia Yao

Eric Dawalt Craig Duvall Steve Gardner Tim Greis Bradley Heil Tyler Holley Blair Lauer Wanda Lawson Katherine Niebuhr Pamela Pabian Angela Penn Sarah Short Richard Shultz

2015 Meeting Dates May 1, 2015 11

University of Kentucky Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering 128 C.E. Barnhart Building Lexington, KY 40546-0276 (859) 257-3000

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Lexington, KY Permit #51

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