Daniel L. Poland was awarded the MSU College of Engineering BAE 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award. Dan is the Vice President of Manufacturing at H.J. Heinz Company. He joined Heinz in 1999 as the Factory Manager at Muscatine, Iowa. He was promoted to General Manager of PPIC/Operations in 2002; Director, Foodservice Operations in 2003; Vice President, Dry Manufacturing in 2005; and Vice President, Manufacturing in 2006. Dan is responsible for 25 manufacturing facilities across the US and Canada, representing $1.0 billion of costs of goods sold and 7,000 team members. Prior to joining Heinz, Dan was employed by Nestle and Gerber in various roles, including R&D, Engineering, and Operations Management.

Dan earned a BS in Agricultural Engineering from Michigan State University and his MBA in Business/Finance from the University of Iowa. Dan, his wife and two children reside in Pittsburgh.

Dorota Z. Haman was awarded the Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award. Dorota is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. She received a B.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of Warsaw in Poland, then went on to receive her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Engineering from Michigan State University. She has been working at the University of Florida since 1985. Her research projects are focused on water conservation and implementation of water efficient technologies including microirrigation. Her recent research focused on efficient, water conserving production systems in ornamental container nurseries and lead to a patent for water harvesting devices in plant production. She has extensive international experience that includes teaching irrigation courses in Chile, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Egypt and India.

She has been an active member of ASABE, EWRI and several other professional organizations. She is a life member of USCID, a member of the USCID Board of Directors, and a past representative to the ICID Working Group on Capacity Building, Training and Education.

Nick Friant was awarded the Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award. Nick joined Cargill in 2002 where he serves as the Grain Handling Coordinator for the Cargill AgHorizons and Grain and Oilseed Supply Chain, North America business units. In January 2008, his role was expanded to include leading the Cargill World Wide Grain Operations Grain Quality Center of Expertise. He attended Michigan State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 2000 and a Master of Science in 2002, both in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. His main area of study was grain quality, handling, storage, and drying.

He is a member of The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, GEAPS, the NFGA Grain Grades and Weights & Agroterrorism/Facility Security Committees, the NAEGA Grain Grades and Inspection Committee, and recently completed a three-year term on the USDA GIPSA Grain Inspection Advisory Committee (Chairperson during the third year). Nick is married to Stephanie (MSU 1998) with one son (Mason), and another child on the way. He enjoys hockey, time working in the yard, and vegetable gardening.