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Greetings from Dr. Bode …December 1997
• Greetings from Dr. Bode• Awards• “The Cutting Edge”• In
Memoriam –
H. Paul Bateman• New Faculty• Alumni News and Notes• Donors•
Thank You• Let us know• History Book
The 1997-98 academic year is wellunderway and we are optimistic
that itwill be an outstanding year. Studentenrollment remains
stable with 160agricultural engineering, 77 TSM and42 graduate
students.
Dr. Qin Zhang joined our departmentlast August as an Assistant
Professorin Power and Machinery. Dr. Zhangwill be initiating a new
program in“Mechatronics.” Dr. Bruce Litchfield hasaccepted a
two-year appointment inthe College of Engineering as Directorof an
AE3 project on teaching. Dr.Kent Rausch has returned to
thedepartment as a Visiting AssistantProfessor to teach Dr.
Litchfield’sclasses and to collaborate with Dr.Eckhoff on his
corn-milling program.
Three of our faculty have beenpromoted to full Professor:
PhilBuriak, John Reid and GaryRiskowski. Dr. Peter Bloome has
leftthe department to become AssociateDirector for Extension at
OregonState University. Dr. KazimierzBanasisk has also joined
thedepartment for one year as a VisitingScholar. Dr. Banasisk is
from WarsawPoland and is collaborating with thesoil and water
faculty.
Both the ASAE Student Branch andthe Illini Agricultural
MechanizationClub placed first in the National EMI(Equipment
Manufacturing Institute)competition this year at the
ASAEInternational meeting held in
Minneapolis, Minnesota August 10-14,1997. This rating is based
on thequality of activities conducted by thestudent clubs as judged
by the nationalsociety of ASAE.
We need your help in identifying qualitystudents interested in
both theAgricultural Engineering and TSMprograms. Many more jobs
are availablethan graduates.
Please let us know if you have changedyour mailing address,
career path or justlet us know what is happening in yourlife. A
quick e-mail is sufficient. We justlike hearing from you.
The holidays are a time for pausing toappreciate the goodwill of
others. Iwould like to extend my warmest wishesto you and your
families throughout thisholiday season and in the new year
tocome!
Loren BodeHead of Department
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December 19972
Awards …
At the 33rd Annual Engineering AwardsConvocation which was held
on April11, 1997 Ms. Julie Beveridge (May 1997graduate) received
the 1997 Stanley H.Pierce Student Award from theStudent Engineering
Council AwardsCommittee.
This award is given in memory ofStanley H. Pierce who served as
anassociate dean of the College ofEngineering. The award is
givenannually to a student who is selected ashaving done the most
to developempathetic student-faculty cooperation.
Graduate students Sreekala Gopalapillai,Qing Qu and Yanling Zhao
wererecognized at the Gamma Sigma DeltaAnnual
Initiation/Recognition dinnerheld on April 10, 1997.
The top 100 Seniors at UIUC werehonored on April 27, 1997 at a
banquetsponsored by the College of EngineeringAlumni Association.
Amy Russell wasamong the seniors honored at this event.The students
were selected for theircontributions through extracurricularand
Scholastic achievement.
At the fall picnic on October 5, 1997,the following awards were
given to ourstudents:
Ø Adam Cramsey received the AGEoutstanding freshman award
forachievement during his freshmanyear.
Ø Michael Curl received the AGEOutstanding Transfer
Studentaward.
Ø Vince Reincke received the TSMoutstanding freshman award
forachievement during his freshmanyear.
Ø Lindsey J. Schilling and AnnetteZehner were recognized
asoutstanding Women inEngineering Scholars.
“The Cutting Edge” …
“The Cutting Edge” is a new series ofengineering and technology
fact sheetswritten by members of ourdepartment about the latest
cuttingedge technology. Five fact sheets havebeen produced to date.
They are:
Geotextiles and Geogrids on theFarm by Ted Funk and
GaryRiskowski.
The 1997 Illinois Tillage Report byBob Frazee, Mike Hirschi and
DougPeterson.
Compaction: Causes and Effectsby John Siemens and Doug
Peterson.
Compaction Cures by John Siemensand Doug Peterson.
Boosting Visibility of AgEquipment by Chip Petrea, BobAherin,
Irene Miles.
To order copies of the “Cutting Edge”publication, call
217.333.3570.
Julie Beveridge and Loren Bode
Dr. John F. Reid, Professor inthe Power and MachineryDivision,
received the 1997Engineering Council Award forExcellence in
Advising.
Happy Holidays andBest Wishes for
1998!
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December 1997 3
H. Paul Bateman and Jeannie Bloome (BS’92)Bateman Congeniality
Award Recipient
In Memoriam …
H. Paul Bateman was bornSeptember 21, 1910 near
Mansfield,Illinois and graduated from UrbanaHigh School in 1928.
Fromthe University of Illinois hereceived a bachelor of
sciencedegree in agriculture in 1932and a bachelor of sciencedegree
in agriculturalengineering in 1934. Bothdegrees were awarded
withhigh honors. He was one ofthe first two graduates
inagricultural engineering at theUniversity of Illinois.
Hecontinued with graduatestudies at the U of I andearned a master’s
degree inmechanical engineering in1948. He married LorennieBerry in
1968.
From 1934 to 1936, Paul was anengineer with the Federal
CivilianConservation Corps camps in westernIllinois and became a
faculty memberof the Agricultural EngineeringDepartment of the
University ofIllinois in 1936. His early professionalinterests were
on the advantage ofusing tractors in place of horses onfarms, then
on proper tractor serviceand maintenance procedures, and
fieldcapacity and cost of field operations.
His long term professional career andinterest began when he
started andtook charge of the AgriculturalEngineering Research Farm
at theUniversity of Illinois in 1950. Eachyear he conducted field
experimentson several tillage planting methods forproduction of
corn, soybeans andother crops, the effects of soilcompaction on
crop growth and yield,nitrogen application rates,
planterperformance, and combines for cropharvesting. He was
involved in theearly work on using the combine toharvest soybeans
and the feasibility ofusing a combine to harvest corn.Professor
Bateman’s greatestprofessional contribution was his
knowledge and publications on thedevelopment and evolution of
thevarious tillage/planting systems forcorn and soybeans. When
herbicidesto control weeds became available in
the early 1950's, he was one of the firstresearchers in the
United States toconduct experiments on reducing thenumber of
tillage operations used forplanting corn and soybeans. At firstthe
experiments included “reduced tillagesystems” and then “minimum
tillage.”
For minimum tillage in the late 1950's,he proved that only one
fieldoperation was needed. The operationincluded moldboard
planting, applyingfertilizer, planting corn, and
sprayingherbicides. The system was called“plow-plant” and was
promotedthroughout the Midwest as a means ofreducing soil erosion
and saving laborand fuel, and reducing cropproduction costs. The
practice waswidely promoted by the University ofIllinois
Cooperative Extension Service.
In the 1960's, Professor Bateman’stillage/planting experiments
includedchisel plow, disk, rotary tiller, ridge till,and no-tillage
systems. He was one ofthe first researchers in the UnitedStates to
conduct experiments onridge-till and no tillage systems
forproducing corn. Farmeradoption of no-tillage was slow at
first.But as new and improved herbicides
became available, the no-tillage systemhas been adopted by many
farmers inthe Midwest, due in part to ProfessorBateman’s early work
on no-tillplanting equipment. No-till is now
widely accepted as the mostcost effective crop productionsystem
for reducing soilerosion in sloping fields.
Professor Bateman’s interestsin farm machinery continuedafter
his retirement from theUniversity. As a consultant hecollected farm
machineryrepair cost records fromfarmers. These records wereused in
textbooks and in theStandards of the AmericanSociety of
AgriculturalEngineers. He also worked asa consultant corn planter
forseveral major farm machinerymanufacturers. He spent many
tedious hours in the fields planted tocorn measuring seed
planting depthand spacing. For several years a reportwas prepared
for each manufacturerwith a copy sent to each farmer.
After Professor Bateman's retirementin 1968, he and his wife
Lorenniecontinued a loving, caring relationshipthat involved travel
in the UnitedStates and overseas, participation in 17Elderhostels,
a joint interest inagriculture, in the sponsorship of aJonathan
Baldwin Turner Scholarshipat the University of Illinois each
yearsince 1983, and sponsorship of theBateman Congeniality Award to
astudent in Agricultural Engineeringand a student in Technical
SystemsManagement at the University ofIllinois. Professor Bateman’s
servicesto the Agricultural EngineeringDepartment, to both the
College ofAgricultural, Consumer andEnvironmental Sciences and
theCollege of Engineering, and tonumerous other organizations
weremany and of integrity. His colleaguesand many personal friends
will misshis patient and helpful counsel in theyears to come.
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December 19974
Dr. Kazimierz Banasik is a visiting faculty member inthe Soil
and Water Division until June 1998. Banasikarrived in the
department in August to work onmodeling sediment and water quality
for smallwatersheds. The research is being conducted within
theLittle Vermilion River Research Group under thedirection of Dr.
J. Kent Mitchell.
Banasik is an Associate Professor/Lecturer and Research Engineer
in theDepartment of Hydraulic Structures, Faculty of Land
Reclamation andEnvironmental Engineering, Warsaw Agricultural
University and Professor,College of Environmental Protection,
Radom, Poland. His areas of researchinclude reservoir
sedimentation, sediment yield, water quality and rainfallrun-off
modeling, managing field investigations in a small
agriculturalwatershed: rainfall run-off, sediment yield, and water
quality.
Dr. Banasik received his Ph.D. of Science in Technology in 1983
from theWarsaw Agricultural University. His field of study was
hydraulics/hydrologyand his dissertation was on land use effect on
watershed sediment yield.
New Faculty …
Dr. Qin Zhang has joined thedepartment as Assistant Professor in
thePower and Machinery Division. He waspreviously a Research
Associate in thedepartment from 1992 to 1994 workingon intelligent
controls for biologicalsystems.
Zhang is originally from Hangzhou,China where he completed
hisundergraduate work at the ZhejiangAgricultural University in
1982. Hereceived his masters degree from theUniversity of Idaho and
his Ph.D. fromthe University of Illinois, finishing in1991. Dr.
Zhang worked as a ProjectEngineer at Automated AnalysisCorporation
and a Senior ResearchEngineer at Caterpillar Incorporatedbefore
joining the department in August.
His current research interests are vehicleguidance and controls,
off-highwaymachinery systems, robotics, fluidguidance power
systems, fuzzy andneural network controls, mechatronics,smart
sensors, and prognostics.
Dr. Zhang will be teaching AGE 311 inthe spring and a graduate
level modelingand simulation course in the fall.
Also joining the faculty this fall asVisiting Assistant
Professor in theFood and Bioprocess EngineeringDivision is Dr. Kent
D. Rausch.
Dr. Rausch comes from Kansas StateUniversity where he worked
inExtension with food processors for2½ years. He was briefly
aPostdoctoral Research Assistant in thedepartment from June to
August 1993assisting in developing a procedure
used for small samples of hybrid cornto determine wet
millingcharacteristics. From 1989 to 1993 hewas a Graduate Research
Assistant inwhich he was actively involved in wetmilling research
projects. Rauschreceived his Ph.D. in Food andBioprocess
Engineering from theUniversity of Illinois in 1993. Hereceived his
BS and MS degrees inAgricultural Engineering from theUniversity of
Missouri in 1987 and1989.
Dr. Rausch's current research interestsinclude impact of corn
quality on thewet milling process; engineering designof the wet
milling process to create orimprove co-product value and
quality;recovery of biosolids from foodprocesses; and corn
qualitymeasurement and characterization.
Rausch will be teaching AGE 383 inthe fall and AGE 385 in the
spring.
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December 1997 5
On August 21, 1997 Randy Fonnerbegan work for the
CooperativeExtension Service within theBioenvironmental
EngineeringDivision as Extension Specialist,Certified Livestock
Manager ProgramFacilitator.
The position is in response to theLivestock Management
Facilities Actpassed by the Illinois GeneralAssembly on May 21,
1996. With thepassage of this act, Illinois livestockproducers were
suddenly faced withnew state environmental regulations.Among them
was a requirement thatproducers obtain an operatingcertificate for
all farms having morethan 300 animal units. Randy isresponsible for
coordinating thetraining sessions required forcertification by the
IllinoisDepartment of Agriculture. In thefuture, the program is
expected toexpand to include manure nutrientmanagement planning
workshops andcontractor workshops.
From March 1993 until August ofthis year, Randy was with
thedepartment as a Coordinator ofResearch Programs. Randy
receivedhis Bachelor and Master degreesfrom the University of
Illinois atUrbana-Champaign and is a native ofChampaign,
Illinois.
Alumni News and Notes …
Gerald J. Voss (BS '58) is currentlyworking as an Account
Executive forAgri Communicators in Columbus,Ohio. Mr. Voss retired
in 1987 after27 years with John Deere.
James A. Holmes (BS '68) recentlye-mailed to report that after
serving inmany facets of the Navy, from dieselmechanic to Supply
Lieutenant, hecontinues to provide naval support asa Senior
Engineer with the TMACorporation. The firm providesmaintenance and
modernizationplanning support for the Naval SeaSystems Command in
Arlington,Virginia.
H. Chandler Taylor (BS '74) recentlyaccepted a position with the
MonetaGroup, Inc., Clayton, Missouri, as aprincipal of the
firm.
Dennis D. Bachman (BS '84) beganhis second year in January 1997
asWoodford County, Illinois Engineer.Among his many duties, Bachman
is incharge of maintenance and keeping allof the 159 miles of
county roads ingood shape. He is also in charge ofkeeping bridges
in good condition, aswell as overseeing the construction ofnew
ones, if needed.
David P. Ramp (BS '88/MS '90)recently moved to the Moline
area.Dave started his new position withDeere as a Supply
ManagementEngineer in the John Deere SeedingGroup. Dave and his
wife, Kathy, arenow at home in Hampton, Illinois.
Shufeng Han (Ph.D. '93) is a SeniorEngineer with Case
Corporation inBurr Ridge, Illinois.
Rene J. Denhart (BS '93) and DanielJ. Shunk (BS '96) were
married June28, 1997 in St. Joseph, Illinois. Theywill be making
their new home inAnkey, Iowa. Rene is working forDuPont Quality
Grains and Dan isworking for Ag Leader Technology.
John Schweitzer (BS '94) hasaccepted a new position in
themarketing department of the JohnDeere Seeding Group in Moline.
Asof December 15, the Schweitzer's aremaking the Quad Cities their
newhome.
Lori R. Hummel (BS '95) and RobertS. Younker were married
November30, 1996 in Urbana, Illinois. Theycurrently reside in
Creston, Iowa. Loriis employed by the USDA/NRCS inCreston,
Iowa.
Bingcheng Ni (Ph.D. '96) is a SeniorEngineer with Case
Corporation inBurr Ridge, Illinois.
Zhiwei Li (Ph.D. '96) e-mailed that hehas accepted a position in
August withABB, Allen Town, Pennsylvania. It isa development
engineer positionwhich involves both hardware andsoftware
development.
Chia-Hui Chou (MS '97) hasreturned to Taiwan and is working as
aProject Engineer with the Far EastMachinery Company in Chiayi. He
isin charge of design of cooling systemsfor the company’s
machines.
Julie A. Beveridge (BS '97) and JasonT. Abbott (BS '97) were
marriedNovember 1, 1997 in Metamora,Illinois. The Abbotts will be
makingtheir new home in Metamora. Julie isemployed by Morton
Buildings andJason is a test engineer withCaterpillar.
Mark Chaney (BS '97) and his wife,Laura, are the proud parents
of a newson, Grant Michael, born August 19,1997.
Benjamin L. Erickson (BS '97) hasstarted working for Lipton
makingRagu and Five Brothers Sauce inOwensboro, Kentucky.
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December 19976
Donors …
During the past year the followingalumni have donated money to
thedepartment. These funds are used tohelp provide scholarships to
deservingstudents, defray travel costs toprofessional meetings and
supportspecial student projects for our openhouses each spring.
Some donationshave been specifically designated toone of several
special funds in ourdepartment. For more information ondonor
opportunities, please contactthe department at 217.333.3570.
We would like to extend our gratefulappreciation to all of you
for yourgenerous support of our programs.
Mr. Mervin G. AdenNaurin E. AhmadMr. & Mrs. Frank W.
AndrewMrs. Alice A. ArchibaldMr. & Mrs. Richard Ayers
Mr. Christopher A. BehmeMr. & Mrs. Wendell BowersMr. Donald
L. BrakensiekMr. Kirk A. Brower
Dr. Richard G. CarlsonMr. & Mrs. Ming ChanMr. Douglas D.
CharltonMr. David W. CloseMr. & Mrs. Kim E. CramerMr. &
Mrs. Edward J. Cunningham
Dr. & Mrs. Richard D. DerksenDr. Floyd E. DowellMr. &
Mrs. Jesse M. Dowell, Jr.
Dr. & Mrs. Ronald L. ElliottMr. & Mrs. James D.
Erickson
Mr. & Mrs. Robert T. Fulk
Mr. K. Dale GettingsDr. & Mrs. Carroll E. GoeringMr. Carl L.
Gowler
Dr. Walter Cecil HammondMr. & Mrs. Stanley E. HarrisMr.
Wayne E. HartmanMr. James G. HartsockMr. Brad L. HolsappleMr. Lynn
K. HuffmanMr. & Mrs. Larry F. HugginsMr. & Mrs. Robert C.
HughesDr. Raymond L. HuhnkeMr. & Mrs. Albert L. HumkeDr. &
Mrs. Donnell R. Hunt
Dr. & Mrs. Marvin L. JanssenMr. & Mrs. Paul C.
JohnsonDr. & Mrs. Benjamin A. Jones, Jr.
Dr. Paul J. KlazuraMr. Robert W. KrumwiedeMr. David A. Kuhl
Mr. Thomas D. LangstonMr. & Mrs. Paul R. Luedke
Mr. & Mrs. Kelvin K. MakMr. Fred F. ManhartMr. John R.
MarshMr. Hector G. McAllisterMr. Daniel C. MillsDr. & Mrs.
Edwin J. MonkeConrad S. MooreMr. Carlyle G. Mueller
Mr. & Mrs. Kevin R. NiemannMr. & Mrs. Don M. Nixon
Mr. & Mrs. David J. Olson
Mr. & Mrs. Leroy K. Pickett
Mr. Kenneth RamsayMr. & Mrs. Martin S. RedshawMr. & Mrs.
Lyle G. ReeserMr. & Mrs. Dwight J. RobertsRowena T. Romano
Mr. Reuben O. SchlegelmilchMrs. Jane Herman SchultzMr. &
Mrs. John M. SchweitzerDr. & Mrs. John C. SiemensMr. Dale H.
SinclairMr. & Mrs. Roger M. SmithMr. William S. StamosMr. &
Mrs. James R. SteffenMs. Christine StengerMr. Philip StengerMr.
& Mrs. Jon D. StolzMr. & Mrs. David W. Sucoe
Mr. & Mrs. Eric M. ThomasNicole L. ToomeyMr. & Mrs. John
C. Tunnell
Mr. Kashmir S. Virk
Mr. & Mrs. Jay J. WaitMs. Audrey Williams-Lee
Thank you …
The Food and Bioprocess Engineering Division and the department
extends a “thank you” to the SeedburoEquipment Company for the use
and donation of the PQ 100 Single Kernel Moisture Tester. The
instrument isvery valuable and has helped with the research on a
single kernel moisture measurement. The moisture tester willbe used
for the annual AACC Corn Wet Milling Short Course and for moisture
measurement laboratories. Thestate-of-the-art equipment adds
immensely to our teaching and research programs.
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December 1997 7
The Agricultural Engineering Newsletter is a publication of the
Public Relations Committee. Correspondence may be sentto:
Agricultural Engineering NewsletterUniversity of Illinois1304
West Pennsylvania AvenueUrbana, IL 61801217.333.9409 –
phone217.244.0323 – faxe-mail: mbm@ age.uiuc.edu
"Let us know … Alumni Information Sheet
Name: Year Graduated:
Home Address:
City, State, Zip:
Business Title/Profession:
Company/Institution: Phone: Area Code
E-mail Address:
News:
Return to: Agricultural Engineering Newsletter 217.333.9409 -
phone1304 West Pennsylvania 217.244.0323 - faxUrbana, IL 61801
E-mail: mbm@ age.uiuc.edu
The University of Illinois is an affirmative action, equal
opportunity institution.
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History Book …
Walt Lembke and Ben Jones havedevoted countless hours
incompleting the history of ourdepartment at UIUC. Theprinting
press is warming up andwe will be providing details aboutthe book
in our next newsletter.Watch for it next spring!