May / June, 2004

Dr. Bill Stout
College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient

The department takes great pride in congratulating Dr. Bill Stout in receiving the College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award. Established in 2004, this award is given to an alumnus who has distinguished himself/herself as a leader in the biological/agricultural engineering profession through professional contributions, public service, and personal accomplishments. Alumni who have graduated at least ten years ago with an undergraduate and/or graduate degree are considered.

Born in Nebraska on a wheat and cattle farm, Bill Stout earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Nebraska in 1954. He joined MSU's Department of Agricultural Engineering faculty in 1955 after completing his master's degree at MSU. He later served as department chairperson for five years.

After two decades of focusing on international agriculture and energy use, he became a world authority on efficient use of energy in agriculture. He was a farm power and machinery specialist with FAO in Rome; director of a three-year USAID study of agricultural mechanization in Equatorial Africa; key consultant to the UND:/ICAr-sponsored energy center in Ludhiana, India; and director of the Texas A&M University branch campus in Koriyama, Japan. From 1999-2000, he served as president of CIGR, the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering, a global network that serves the profession in 95 countries.

Along with his colleagues at MSU, Bill developed the concept of once-over harvesting of picking cucumbers. Today, machines based on his protype are used throughout the industry.

In 1981, he left MSU to join the Biological and Agricultural engineering Department at Texas A&M University (TAMU). While there, he led a team that developed the Agricultural Systems Management Program. He retired from TAMU in 1998.

Bill has authored or edited eight books and more that 150 papers, and served as editor in chief of Energy in World Agriculture. A fellow in the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Bill resides in College Station, Texas. He keeps active professionally by serving as editor of CIGR's electronic technical journal.

Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering
Michigan State University
A.W. Farrall Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824-1323
(517) 355-4720

Questions or comments contact: webmaster

Past Newsletters | BAE Home | MSU Home

June 3, 2004