Conference Session

Biological & Agricultural Technical Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Anand Lakshmikanth, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; John Cundiff, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Andrew Fulton, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

Engineering Education (EngE) and Page 13.107.2the bioprocess wing of the Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) at Virginia Tech was launchedin September 2004. The first project was awarded in Fall of 2003 and became a planning projectfor the second funding from NSF for the DLR. This DLR project, funded in Fall 2004, focusedon reformulating the engineering curriculum for specifically bioprocess engineering program inthe Department of Biological Systems Engineering in conjunction with the freshman program inthe Department of Engineering Education and School of Education12. The formed committeeassessed a need for students improving their skills by having

Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ernest Tollner, University of Georgia-Athens

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

. 2005. Hydrologic analysis and design. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,NJ.Moore, I.D. and G.J. Burch. 1986. Physical basis of the length-slope factor in theuniversal soil loss equation. SSSA Jour. 50:1294-1298.Renard, K.G., G.R. Foster, G.A. Weesies, D.K. McCool and D.C. Yoder. 1997.Predicting soil erosion by water: A guide to conservation planning with the reviseduniversal soil loss equation (RUSLE). USDA-ARS Pub ARS-S40. Agricultural ResearchService, US Dept. Agr., Washington, DC.Shen, H.W. and P.Y. Julien. 1993. Erosion and sediment transport. IN Handbook ofHydrology, D.R. Maidment (Ed.). McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.Ssegane H., E. W. Tollner, and S. C. McCutcheon.2007. Erosion prediction on micro-watersheds using topographic parameters

Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Christan Whysong, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Jenny Lo, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

health andsafety of consumers. The class also discussed the trustworthiness of food manufacturers and thegovernment agencies who are supposed to regulate them. The goal of the discussion, lastingapproximately 20 minutes, was to allow students to observe the varying views of theirclassmates.Since the Departments of Engineering Education and Biological Systems Engineering are onlybeginning to implement ethics training using the spiral themed curriculum, it is essential todevelop an assessment plan for future evaluation. As mentioned above the tool utilized for thisexercise was a pre- and post- survey. At the end of the class discussion, students were asked tocomplete a post-survey which consisted of the same eight questions given in the pre

Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Madhumi Mitra, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Lurline Marsh, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Craig Daughtry, United States Department of Agriculture; Tracy Earle, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Jurgen Schwarz, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

course. Faculty and staff from Agriculture, Natural Sciences, Engineering,Aviation Sciences, and collaborators from USDA, NASA, and representatives from a localindustry involved in “Precision Farming” have worked together to plan and deliver the course.The course content spans over the fundamentals of global positioning systems (GPS), yieldmonitoring, soil testing, variable rate applicators, fundamentals of plant physiology andagronomy, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), statistics and data analysis, aerial imagingand remote sensing, & nutrient and watershed management. Significant field work using variousfield sensors, including a chlorophyll meter, pH meter, and other instrumentation to measure leafarea index (LAI) in conjunction with

Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Meyer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

annualDepartment open house. The open house includes invited other students, alumni, faculty,administrators and potential employers. Team sizes are either two or three members. Theprinciples of Michaelsen, et al. (2004 and 2007) are considered in team group planning and Page 13.753.7facilitation. The final written term paper was graded according to the instrument shown inAppendix B. A brief summary description of selected projects for the years 2004 -2007 are givenbelow. The major pieces of electronic equipment are also given.1. Ultrasonic Measurement of Water Levels with an Embedded System (2007).The area of ground water and surface water