2009 AOC Student Paper Awards       - TOP -

This year, to avoid potential bias, information on authors was removed before the papers were delivered to the judges. Five were selected for the awards:

First place:

Xiguang Chen, Rowena T. Romano, Ruihong Zhang, and Hyo-Sun Kim. “Anaerobic Digestion of Selected Food Wastes for Biogas Production” (ASABEPaper Number 095796) 

Second place:

Shiying Tian, Mohamed A. Youssef, R. Wayne Skaggs, and Devendra M. Amatya “Development and Preliminary Testing of the Forestry version of DRAINMOD-NII ” (ASAE Paper Number 097129)

Third place:

Jian Jin, and Lie Tang. “Optimal Coverage Path Planning for Arable Farming on 2D Surfaces” (ASAE Paper Number 097274)

 Fourth place:

Zihan Cao, Lingjuan Wang, Zifei Liu, Qianfeng Li, and David B. Beasley. “Particle Size Distribution of Particulate Matter Emitted from a Layer Operation in Southeast U.S.” (ASAE Paper Number 090025)

 Fifth place:

Lin Wei, Lester O. Pordesimo, S. D. Filip To, James R. Wooten, Agus Haryanto, and Eugene P. Columbus. “Effects of Feedstock Properties on the Performance of A Downdraft Gasifier” (ASAE Paper Number 096873)

2008 AOC Student Paper Awards       - TOP -

Ten papers entered the annual AOC student paper competition. The student papers were judged by a five-member judging panels. The honorable judges are: Drs. Ruixiu Sui, Donghai Wang, Lingjuan Wang, Chenghai Yang, and Xiusheng Yang. This year, to avoid potential bias, information on authors was removed before the papers were delivered to the judges. Five were selected for the awards:

First Place
Han, W., N. Zhang, Y. Zhang. 2008. A two-layer wireless sensor network for remote sediment monitoring. ASABE Paper No. 84548. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE.

Second Place
Wei, L., L. O. Pordesimo, C. W. Herndon, W. D. Batchelor. 2008. Cost Analysis of Micro-Scale Biomass Gasification Facilities through Mathematical Modeling. ASABE  Paper No. 84424. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE.

Zhu, B., R. Zhang , P. Gikas, J. Rapport, B. Jenkins, X. Li. 2008. Integrated Rotary     Drum and Anaerobic Phased Solids Digester System for Biogas Production from Municipal Solid Wastes. ASABE Paper No. 84122. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE.

Fourth Place
Sun, G., S. Hoff, B. Zelle, M. Nelson. Development and Comparison of Backpropagation and Generalized Regression Neural Network Models to Predict Diurnal and Seasonal Gas and PM10 Concentrations and Emissions from Swine Buildings. ASABE Paper No.  85100. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE.

Fifth Place
Yang, Y., R. R. Sharma, J. J. Cheng, J. C. Burns. 2008. Hydrolysis and Fermentation  of New Switchgrass Germplasm for Bioethanol Production. ASABE Paper No. 83799. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE.

2007 AOC Student Paper Awards       - TOP -

2007 AOC Student Paper Competition successfully concluded at the AOC annual banquet in Minneapolis, MN, on June 18. Ten AOC student members entered the competition with papers covering the areas of power and machinery (PM), information and electrical technologies (IET), soil and water (SW), food and process engineering (FPE), and biological engineering (BE). The papers were judged by four distinguished judges: Dr. Yanbin Li of University of Arkansas, Dr. Juming Tang of Washington State University, Dr. Chenghai Yang of USDA Subtropical Research Center, and Dr. Ruihong Zhang of University of California, Davis. Dr. Naiqian Zhang of Kansas State University is the coordinator of the competition.  

Five AOC student members received 2007 AOC Student Paper Awards.  The top five winners were presented with certificates and checks of $150, $125, $100, $75, and $50, respectively.

First Place
Jianwei Qin, co-authors: Renfu Lu. Michigan State University. Monte Carlo Simulation of Light Propagation in Apples. ASABE Paper No. 073058.

Second Place
Zifei Liu, co-authors: Lingjuan Waqng, David Beasley, and Edgar Oviedo. North Carolina State University. Modeling Ammonia Emissions from Broiler Litter with a Dynamic Flow-through Chamber System. ASABE Paper No. 074090. 

Third Place
Lide Chen, co-authors: S. Hoff, J. Koziel, L. Cai, B. Zelle, and G. Sun. Iowa State University. Performance Evaluation of a Wood Chip-based Biofilter Using Solid-phase Microextraction and Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry-Olfactometry. ASABE Paper No. 074137. 

Fourth Place
Jian Shi, co-authors: Ratna Sharma-Shivappa, Mari Chinn, and Noura Howell. North Carolina State University. Effect of Microbial Pretreatment on Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Fermentation of Cotton Stalk for Ethanol Production. ASABE Paper No. 077038.

Fifth Place
Haitao Xiang, co-authors:  Lei Tian. University of Illinois. Autonomous Aerial Image Georeferencing for an UAV-based Data Collection Platform Using Integrated Navigation System. ASABE Paper No. 073046.

2006 AOC Student Paper Awards       - TOP -

At the 2006 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, four AOC student members received awards at the annual AOC student paper competition. The awards included certificates and checks of $150, $125, $100, and $75, respectively.

High-quality papers, tough judgment, a judging panel member commented. The panel consisted of five outstanding professors working in different technical areas. They are Dr. K.C. Ting of University of Illinois, Dr. Ruihong Zhang of University of California, Davis, Dr. Chenghai Yang of USDA Sub-tropical Research Center, Dr. Juming Tang of Washington State University, and Dr. Donghai Wang of Kansas State University.

Papers receiving this year's AOC Paper Awards are:

First Place
Jianwei Qin and Renfu Lu. Measurement of the optical properties of apples using hyperspectral diffuse reflectance imaging. ASABE Paper No. 063037.

Second Place
Fei Liu, Xiao-Li Su, Yanbin Li. Detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 using a QCM Immunosensor with Nanoparticle Amplification. ASABE Paper No. 067119.

Third Place
Changying Li, Paul Heinemann, and Patrick Reed. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and CMA Evolutionary Strategy to Optimize Electronic Nose Sensor Selection. ASABE Paper No. 066120.

Fourth Place
Shuhui Dun, Joan Q. Wu, William J. Elliot, Peter R. Robichaud, and Dennis C. Flanagan. Adapting the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Model to Forest Conditions. ASABE Paper No. 062150.

2009 Student Awards       - TOP -

Graduate Leadership and Service Award. Dr. Wei Zhang of Cornell University was nominated and selected for his outstanding leadership as demonstrated at the post of Student Activity Committee (SAC) chair. He initiated a potential student members survey among the universities which having related departments and coordinated student activities at the 2008 and 2009 ASABE AIM.

Graduate Academic Achievement Award. Ms. Lijuan, Xie of Zhejiang University, China. 

2008 Student Awards       - TOP -

AOC usually selects one student member who made significant contributions to the Association for the “Graduate Student Leadership and Service Award”. This year, two students were nominated for the award. It has been a tough decision for the Award Committee to make. After a series of discussion, the committee finally decided to give the awards to both nominees because of their outstanding contributions.

Ms. Yali Zhang of Kansas State University earned this award for her dedicated service to the Impact Newsletter as an Associate Editor. Behind the screen, she also has spent a tremendous amount of time taking care of many tedious “routine” jobs for the Association during the past four years.

Mr. Zhiming Qi of Iowa State University was nominated for his outstanding leadership as demonstrated at the post of Student Activity Committee (SAC) chair. He played a major role in various SAC activities, including setting up an online Bulletin Broadcast System (BBS) for students and coordinating student activities at the ASABE AIM.

Graduate Student Scholarly Achievement Award. Mr. Gang Sun. Iowa State University. Gang was nominated by his Major Professor Dr.  Steven Hoff. Dr. Hoff highly appraised Gang’s dedication, his achievement in research, and his teamwork spirit.

The student Academic Achievement and Leadership/Service Awards were selected by the AOC Award Committee, which is composed of all AOC past and current Presidents – Drs. Naiqian Zhang, Qiang Zhang,  Juming Tang, Ruihong Zhang, Xiusheng Yang, and Chenghai Yang.

2007 Student Awards       - TOP -

2007 AOC Student Academic Achievement Award and Student Service and Leadership Award were also presented at the AOC annual banquet in Minneapolis, MN. Winners of these awards were selected by a committee formed by all AOC Past Presidents, including Dr. Naiqian Zhang of Kansas State University, Dr. Qiang Zhang of University of Manitoba, Dr. Juming Tang of Washington State University, Dr. Ruihong Zhang of University of California, Davis, and Dr. Xiusheng Yang of University of Connecticut. Each winner was presented with a certificate and a check of $150.

Academic Achievement Award. Mr. Yufeng Ge. Texas A&M University. He was nominated by Dr. J. Alex Thomasson. In his nomination letter, Dr. Thompson wrote: “In terms of academic performance, Yufeng’s record here at Texas A&M University has been spotless”. “In scholarly activities, Yufeng has been more prolific than any other graduate students I’ve had”. Dr. Thompson also praised Yufeng for his achievements in teaching, publication, and involvement in proposal preparation.

Student Service and Leadership Award. Mr. Haitao Xiang. University of Illinois. Over the past year, the AOC Student Activity Committee (SAC) under Haitao’s leadership has been the most active part of AOC, carrying out many activities, including recruiting student members in North America, China, and other parts of the world, periodically publishing student news letters, continuously developing AOC SAC web site, actively involving in AOC Executive Board meetings, designing new AOC T-shirts, and organizing student activities at the annual meeting. An essay Haitao wrote for the award, “Passion，Dedication and Commitment - How can we improve graduate student involvement in advancing the goals of AOC?”, is also published in this issue of Impact.

2006 Leadership and Service Awards       - TOP -

At the 2006 AOC Annual Meeting, two AOC student members received AOC Graduate Student Leadership and Service Awards. The recipients of this year are Changying Li of Pennsylvania State University and Xianglian Li of University of Connecticut.

Changying Li was nominated by Dr. Naiqian Zhang, the AOC Student Advisor. In his nomination letter, Dr. Zhang wrote: During the 2005-2006 year, Changying has done an extraordinary work in leading the AOC Student Activity Committee (SAC) to bring AOC to a historic high on student activities. The SAC under Changying's leadership has become the most vibrant part of the AOC community.

Xianglian Li was nominated by Dr. Shaojin Wang of Washington State University. Dr. Wang's nomination was based on Xianglian's outstanding contributions to AOC by serving as the Associate Editor of Impact, the AOC newsletter and by actively involving in the AOC Student Activity Committee (SAC) during the past years. Her service and leadership at the home institution were also cited in the nomination letter.
Essays written by the awardees are published in this issue of Impact on next two pages.

Recipients of Student Awards       - TOP -

AOC Graduate Leadership and Service Award

2002, Ning Wang, Kansas State University

          Lin Wang, Kansas State University

2003,   Huawei Sun, Ohio State University

2004,   Jude Liu, University of Manitoba

2005,   ?

2006,   Changying Li, Pennsylvania State University

Xianglian Li, University of Connecticut

2007,   Haitao Xiang, University of Illinois

2008,   Yali Zhang, Kansas State University

             Zhiming Qi, Iowa State University

AOC Graduate Scholarly Achievement Award

2002,   None

2003,   Lingjuan Wang, Texas A&M University

2004,   Hong Li, Iowa State University

2005,   Wenqiao Yuan, University of Illinois

2006,   None

2007,   Yufeng Ge, Texas A&M University

2008,   Gang Sun, Iowa State University