November / December, 2004

Student & Faculty News

"Freshman 15"

On September 16, 2004, Voice of America Mandarin interviewed Dr.Kirk Dolan, Assistant Professor with joint appointment in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and in the Department of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering, for a third time. The topic was "Freshman 15," the idea that freshman tend to gain 15 lbs. during their first year of college. The interview lasted 25 minutes, and was conducted all in Mandarin by conference call from Washington D.C. to E. Lansing at 7:25AM to allow live call-in from listeners from China.

Some of the questions included:

1. What is Freshman 15? Is it a myth or truth?
2. What contributes to the problem? What are the reasons?
3. How to beat the Freshman 15?
4. Does Freshman 15 mean more than weight gain? Does it pose a more serious eating disorder problem?
5. How could schools help to fight this problem?

Dr. Dolan also answered callers' questions on the nutritional benefits of eating corn, and how one could gain weight.

Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Food Expo

If there was ever a place in the world to lose a national competition that you spent nearly an entire year working on, it is definitely Las Vegas. We are Team Chickasta and we just returned from the Institute of Food Technologists’ food product development competition, at the bi-annual IFT Food Expo, July 12-16, 2004.

We chose to write another chapter in the book of the Atkins diet and create a pasta made from the thigh meat of a chicken. The idea and creation awarded us a spot as a finalist along with 5 other universities from around the country. The competition spanned two exhaustive days combining scores from 4 different categories: Written technical report, poster presentation, oral presentation, and product testing

There would be quite a few more exclamation marks and “….and we gambled our winnings on…”, had we taken one of the top three spots, but the spot alluded us for reasons unknown, but as a consolation our concept received the biggest buzz from the judges throughout the competition. Team Chickasta suffered a few emotional bruises, but the healing process was brief, because we were such cohesive team led by the tactful diplomat, Dr. Janice Harte.

Recognition for Research/Manuscript

Studies conducted by graduate assistant Diwan Ariana and research associate Dr. Bim Shrestha, under the direction of Dr. Daniel Guyer, were recently recognized at the 2003 ASAE International Meeting. The research and subsequent manuscript entitled, “Integrating Reflectance and Fluorescence Imaging for Apple Disorder Classification” received an IET Select Paper Award from the Information and Electrical Technologies Division of ASAE. Dr. Guyer’s team has been working on various concepts to enhance the ability to non-destructively sort raw commodities using spectral and computer vision techniques and analysis. Improvements in automated sorting remain as a high priority with the fruit industry facing challenges with labor, food quality, food safety, and profitability.

College of Engineering’s Academic Awards and Service Awards

Shane Bennett, Tracy Kamikawa and Daniel Sparks received the Undergraduate Academic Award in Biosystems Engineering. This award recognizes the top three percent of juniors and seniors in each department with cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or above and sophomores in the top one percent of their class.

Maria Suparno received the Graduate Student Awards. Dr. Kirk Dolan is her major professor.

Johanna Nugent, received the Undergraduate Service Awards by Dr. Thomas Wolff, Associate Dean for the College of Engineering. This award recognizes juniors and seniors who have made valuable contributions to the College of Engineering.

Shannon McGraw, was chosen as the College of Engineering 2003-2004 Ambassadors for Biosystems Engineering.

Biosystems Engineering Graduate Scholarship Recipients

The AE Endowment Fellowship was presented to Stephen Radke. Stephen is a Ph.D. graduate student working with Dr. Evangelyn Alocilja in biosensors and safety.

Gift & Giving >>>

The Merle and Catherine Esmay Scholarship was presented to Jianwei Qin. Jianwei is an Ph.D. graduate student working with Dr. Renfu Lu in fruit and postharvest quality.

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The Bill and Rita Stout Scholarship was presented to James Wallace. Jim is a Ph.D. graduate student working with Dr. Bill Bickert in manure management area.

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Biosystems Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship Recipients

• The F.W. Bakker-Arkema Minority Scholarship Award was presented to Kevin Belen.
• The A.W. Farrall Faculty Award was presented to Paul Forton and Andrew Knowles.
• The Clarence and Thelma Hansen Scholarship was presented to Tracy Kerchkof, Andrew Lauwers, Johanna Nugent and Erin Thelen.
• The George E. and Betty L. Merva Scholarship was presented to Matthew Williams.
• The Howard F. and Esther L. McColly Scholarship was presented to Shane Bennett, James Bosserd , and Matthew Stasiewicz.

Gift & Giving >>>

Grant Awarded

USDA awarded Dr. Daniel E. Guyer for his proposed project entitled "DEVELOPMENT & OPTIMIZATION OF PRE AND POST HARVEST PEST CONTROL STRATEGIES IN CHERRIES: A MULTI-TACTIC APPROACH"

Patents Awarded 1/1/03 through 6/30/04

Alocilja, Evangelyn C., Steve Marquie, Cynthia Meeusen, SpringYounts, Daniel Grooms
Method and Apparatus for the Detection of Volatile Products in a Sample

Berglund, Kris
Nail Polish Lacquer Remover

Berglund, Kris A., Hasan Alizadeh, Kilum D. Dunuwila
Windshield Washer and Deicer

Berglund, Kris A., Hasan Alizadeh, Kilum D. Dunuwila
Water-Activated, Exothermic Chemical Deicing Formulations

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December 3, 2004