Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session 1

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deana Delp, Arizona State University

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

Paper ID #46230Enhancing User-Defined Agricultural Projects with Commodity Modelingand Strategic PositioningDeana Delp, Arizona State University Deana R. Delp has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Arizona State University. She is an associate teaching professor at Arizona State University for Engineering Academic and Student Affairs in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2025 Enhancing User-Defined Agricultural Projects with Commodity Modeling and Strategic PositioningAbstractThis full paper addresses the question of

Conference Session

Engineering Education Issues Relevant to Agricultural, Biological and Ecological Engineering: Part 1

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Niroj Aryal, North Carolina A&T State University; Scott Osborn, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

techniques and student motivation.Dr. Scott Osborn, University of Arkansas ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024 Undergraduate Level Hands-on Ecological Engineering Course with Semester Long Project and Laboratory ExercisesAbstractOur society currently faces many environmental challenges including: depletion of naturalresources; pollution of soil, water and air; waste disposal; and climate change. To best solve theseenvironmental challenges, society needs college graduates ready to enter workforce that possessan understanding of natural processes along with the ability to incorporate these processes intotraditional engineering solutions. Therefore, a new course in Ecological Engineering and Science(EES

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session 1

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pavel Navitski, Oral Roberts University; Rachel L Budavich, Oral Roberts University; Moriah Love Metellus, Oral Roberts University; David Lopez, Oral Roberts University; Jonathan V Ophus, Oral Roberts University

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

Paper ID #48368Engineering Sustainable Solutions: The Plant Wall Project as an InterdisciplinaryApproach to Integrating Design, Botanical Science, and Educational InnovationDr. Pavel Navitski, Oral Roberts University Dr. Pavel Navitski is Associate Professor at Oral Roberts University from 01/2020 after a stint as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Oklahoma State University, where he was researching drift detecting using sensor systems for field spraying and guest lecturing. He is originally from Belarus, where he was the head of the department of agricultural machines at the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy. The

Conference Session

Strategies and/or Approaches to Engage Students in Agricultural, Biological, or Similarly Named Programs

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Madhumi Mitra Ph.D., University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Jesu Raj Pandya, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

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Diversity

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

) of sustainability, and the well-being of communities and workers involved inagriculture. One important aspect of the experiential learning project was growing peanuts andhemp with FarmBots. Growing peanuts provided a unique opportunity to not only explore theagricultural contributions of George Washington Carver, an African American scientist in the early20th century, but also helped shedding light on his remarkable achievements in the context ofsocial justice. By integrating hemp cultivation on the FarmBot platform, the investigators createdan engaging space that highlighted the potential of this crop while addressing the historical andcontemporary social challenges faced by marginalized communities. The students honed theircontent on the

Conference Session

Biological & Agricultural Division Technical Session

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Madhumi Mitra, Ph.D., University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Jesu Raj Pandya, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

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Diversity

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

food production and food safety. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2023 Peanut Trials on Raised Beds with Indoor and Outdoor FarmBot SetupsAbstractFarmBots are three-axis Cartesian robots quite similar to 3D printers that run on Raspberry Pi 3and Arduino-like microprocessor boards. These machines can seed, kill weeds, sense soil-moisturecontent, and irrigate plants individually over the raised bed area they serve. FarmBots can bemanipulated using web applications over smartphones. The Raspberry Pi Camera (Pi-Cam)integrated with the machine can be used for weed detection and time-lapse photography.FarmBot efforts on campus are integral to the ongoing “Smart Farming” project. The “SmartFarming” project

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session 1

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin Lubina, Gannon University; Ramakrishnan Sundaram, Gannon University

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

complexity. This sandbox encodes genetic dataand abstracts the concepts of behavior and genotypes using machine learning concepts. Besidesinputs and outputs, organisms’ internal networks are completely dependent on its encoded“genes”, a bit string, which includes connections between neurons and the properties of theneurons themselves. Such a sandbox was developed, conclusions and comparisons to nature weremade, as well as insights to possible expansion and application to education. In addition, thereare evaluations of configuration changes and its effects are recorded for each unique trial withinthe simulator. Analysis on similar projects are provided and how they may proceed against someproblems in design and theory. These applications are then put

Conference Session

Engineering education issues relevant to agricultural, biological and ecological engineering-Part 2

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Cody Prince, East Tennessee State University; PAMELA MIMS, East Tennessee State University; Aruna Kilaru, East Tennessee State University; Eric Jorgenson, East Tennessee State University

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Diversity

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

bioengineering program in rural settings - Work-in-Progress Richard C. Prince*, Eric Jorgenson, Pamela J. Mims, Aruna KilaruRecently, there has been a national push to improve the competitiveness of the U.S. in thebioengineering, biomanufacturing, and biotechnology sectors, as demonstrated by the Exec-utive Order to Advance Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable,Safe and Secure American Bioeconomy. To date, much of the country’s biotech infrastruc-ture has been concentrated near coastal areas — even though rural agricultural productioncould provide suitable feedstocks for bioproduction. In this work, we present updates on ourcurrent project titled “Completing the Bioindustrial Pipeline: A Multidisciplinary Work-force

Conference Session

Biological & Agricultural Division Technical Session

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Heydi Han, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Hector Palala, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Jennifer Keshwani, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Deepak R. Keshwani, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

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Diversity

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

activitiesto foster community building was designed for this course. All the activities were related to thecontent studied in class but had an element of community building. We created two instrumentsto collect data: A series of open-ended questions and a survey using a 5-point Likert scale fromstrongly agree to strongly disagree. Results showed that a significant group of participantsexpressed positive perceptions of community and teamwork. Moreover, students felt encouragedto participate in all the group activities, team projects, and assignments to achieve the academicgoals for the semester. Students also felt in a safe environment to ask questions and to ask forthe help needed to succeed. The perceptions of students related to community building

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session 1

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Woongbin Park, Purdue University; Yunjin Lim, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation; Jung Han, Purdue University; Hyeree Cho, Purdue University; Seokyoung Kwon; Juhyun Kim, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

to the smart farm project ▪ Practicing 3D design using Sketchup Team building app Setting your own goal of the project 7 ▪ Introduction to the smart farm project 2 ▪ Setting up the physical computing Team building environment Setting your own goal of the project Reviewing software coding and 3D design for building smart farms 8-10 ▪ Software design for their projects 3-4 ▪ Hardware design reconstructing the Arduino code 3D printing and leveraging various

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session 1

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Merton Stwalley III, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

fields [8][9]. These short individual learning modules should provide enough introduction andcomprehension of the three subjects to qualify as proceeding through the knowledge,comprehension, application, and analysis levels on the original Bloom taxonomy [10] or makingprogress toward factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge on the updated taxonomy [11].They will be broadly project-based and able to be evaluated similarly to other project / teamexperience exercises using skills evaluations and teamwork rubrics [12] [13].Figure 1 – Purdue University Agricultural Systems Management (ASM) undergraduate studentsworking on a John Deere® combine simulator, learning to use the onboard electronic harvestoptimization software. Under the terms

Conference Session

Strategies and/or Approaches to Engage Students in Agricultural, Biological, or Similarly Named Programs

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maryam Bigonah, Auburn University; Fatemeh Jamshidi, Auburn University; Aparana Pant, Auburn University; Daniela Marghitu, Auburn University

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

Paper ID #41881Work in Progress: Grace Platform: Enhancing Pedagogy with Gamified ARand VR in Agriculture EducationMs. Maryam Bigonah, Auburn University Maryam Bigonah is a Ph.D. student at Computer Science Department of Auburn University, specializing in cutting-edge research on Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. Her commitment to bridging theory and practice has led to notable achievements, including receiving one of the awards at the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase 2023 and being nominated for excellence within her department. Currently involved in an NIFA project aimed at

Conference Session

Engineering Education Issues Relevant to Agricultural, Biological and Ecological Engineering: Part 1

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hector Palala, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Amy Millmier Schmidt, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Mara Zelt, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Bethany Zelt, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Andrew Stiven Ortiz Balsero, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Maria Jose Oviedo Ventura, Cornell University

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Diversity

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

San Carlos in Guatemala, and before that, an elementary teacher. His research centers on the intersection of bilingual/multilingual education and technology (in particular, Mayan languages), literacy programs in Indigenous languages, pedagogy of tenderness, and artificial intelligence for education.Amy Millmier Schmidt, University of Nebraska, LincolnMara Zelt, University of Nebraska, Lincoln Mara Zelt is the program manager for the Schmidt Research and Extension Team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. In her role Mara is responsible for supporting the team’s outreach and research programs including the nationwide iAMResponsible project, a partnership of multi

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session 1

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carmine Carey Balascio P.E., University of Delaware

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

hydrologic computer models arecreated for present and developed site conditions using information from CAD-file site plans andon-line resources. The longer studio meeting times also allow for incorporation of a class fieldtrip (week 10) to an active construction site and stormwater management facilities wherestudents can see the practices learned in class put to use. The emphasis on active learning ismanifest in the grading scheme for the course. The two exams are worth only 40% of the overallgrade while the before-class quizzes, problem sets, projects, and other active learningassignments are worth the balance.The “studio” designation for classes organized in the longer class-time studio format providesstudents with a more accurate expectation for

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Isaac Camacho, University of Texas at El Paso; Toluwalase Opanuga, University of Nebraska - Lincoln; Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

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Diversity

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

educators and programs determine if reflection haseffectively contributed to students learning as intended so that teaching approaches can beadjusted to better meet student needs and improve overall instructional quality. Instructors needtools that can help assess reflection activities implemented in their classroom.This study was part of a larger research project to integrate reflection across two engineeringprograms. The purpose of this study was to (1) investigate a tool that instructors can use to assessthe impact of integrating reflection into their courses and (2) demonstrate its use in twoBiological and Agricultural Engineering courses. The intention is to provide validity evidencefor the tool and determine whether it can capture differences

Conference Session

Engineering education issues relevant to agricultural, biological and ecological engineering-Part 2

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hector Palala, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Heydi Han, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Juan Carlos Ramos Tanchez, Cornell University; Boanerges Elias Bamaca, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

implementation of scientific research projects at farms with diverse scales using diverse strategies to advance agriculture and environmental management.Boanerges Elias Bamaca, University of Nebraska, Lincoln ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024 Language Fusion in the Lab: Unveiling the Translanguaging Strategies ofSpanish-Speaking Students in Biological Engineering Technology and ScienceBackground and research questionModern classrooms are a melting pot of cultures and languages, presenting teachers with thechallenge of explaining scientific and engineering concepts to a diverse student body. To bridgelanguage gaps, educators are turning to adaptive methods like 'translanguaging', which taps intostudents

Conference Session

Engineering Education Issues Relevant to Agricultural, Biological and Ecological Engineering: Part 1

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Trisha Moore, Kansas State University; James Randall Etheridge; Glenn Thomas Dale; Sara Winnike McMillan, Iowa State University of Science and Technology; Niroj Aryal; David Austin; Theresa Thompson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Diversity

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

(EcoE) program. To establish this knowledge base,the committee first identified 13 example design projects (applications) on which a recent EcoEgraduate could be expected to work. Example applications included the design of a streamrestoration system and the development of a prairie restoration plan. Next, the specific tasks thatthe graduate would need to carry out to complete each design application, along with theunderlying knowledge or skills needed for each task were outlined. Additionally, the necessarylevel of learning for each knowledge area was qualified, ranging from simple recollection of factsto integration of knowledge across engineering and ecology to develop designs. Each applicationarea was reviewed by the committee and up to two

Conference Session

Biological & Agricultural Division Technical Session

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Kelly Green, Salt Lake Community College; Nick M. Safai, Salt Lake Community College

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

/en5061943 [6] Safai, Nick, Carpio, M. Cyrus. A. Safai, A. Djobo, N. Wong, I. Gaichuk, “Teaching Engineering, Teamwork & Tolerance by Bringing Multi-discipline, Multicultural Students Together via a Project of Common Interest; Vertical, Hydroponic, Smart Garden With Global and Universal (Space) Applications”, ASEE Annual Conference, 2018

Conference Session

Strategies and/or Approaches to Engage Students in Agricultural, Biological, or Similarly Named Programs

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Merton Stwalley III P.E., Purdue University ; Roger L. Tormoehlen, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

promote critical thinking and comprehensive understanding. Overall, the team is pleased with all of the modules from the USDA/NIFA effort. Thevehicle balance module as a completed project did become more computer program-orientedthan originally planned, at the expense of time for the hands-on tractor contest. However, thisalso provided some flexibility for high schools unable to support the miniature pulling contestactivity. They can just delete the event from the syllabus. The researchers are committed throughthe re-release phase of development for the modules, following the upgrade from the alpharelease. They are currently recruiting high school instructors that could execute a beta round ofcourse releases. As materials are debugged

Conference Session

Engineering education issues relevant to agricultural, biological and ecological engineering-Part 2

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hannah Abedoh, Morgan State University; Pelumi Olaitan Abiodun, Morgan State University; Oludare Adegbola Owolabi P.E., Morgan State University; Blessing Isoyiza ADEIKA, Morgan State University; Adedayo Ariyibi, Morgan State University

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Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

(HBCU) since the project began in 2019. The study compares the studentswho participated in ECP, using various measures of engagement, motivation, cognitive processes,and collaborative learning experiences between spring 2022 and fall 2023. A well-developed andvalidated instrument, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), was adoptedfor this study, as well as a self-developed questionnaire to measure students’ engagement duringthe implementation of pedagogy. The study contributes to the current understanding of the efficacyof ECP in enhancing learning outcomes. The study found a sustained level of cognitivedevelopment and motivation among the students, but there was a decline in peer learning andcollaboration. It provides

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE) Technical Session 1

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Toluwalase Opanuga, University of Nebraska - Lincoln; Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

engineering [15],engineering programs have focused on the alignment of course LOs, curriculum (e.g., classactivities, tasks, projects), and assessment to achieve the various educational outcomes necessaryfor professional practice.Two weaknesses of the alignment between the LOs and their assessment is that instructors rarelyuse LOs as a basis for student assessment, and students are rarely asked to use them as the basisof self-assessment of their abilities. When explicitly using LOs for assessment, instructors arebetter able to ascertain the extent to which students are achieving the LOs [3], [16], [17]. Whenstudents are asked to reflect on their abilities by referring explicitly to the LOs, their attention isdrawn to what they should be learning and

Conference Session

Engineering education issues relevant to agricultural, biological and ecological engineering-Part 2

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Logan Andrew Perry, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (BAE)

those things like stick in terms of like, what they are andwhy they were important.”As this excerpt illustrates, students often found concepts more memorable when the instructorused an engaging style of teaching (in this case, the use of humor) paired with real-worldexamples. In fact, the benefit of making connections between course content and real-worldapplications was echoed by other participants as well, such as in the following excerpt:“And then the whole class was more or less graded on the big project...And actually thinkingthrough a somewhat real-world example, even though it's, it probably wasn't a super greatsolution that many people came up with. But it definitely helped.”In sum, the use of engaging, practical, example-based material