ABE News

Michael Kazz receives CALS Alumni Council Outstanding Achiever Award

The CALS Alumni Council has selected Mike Kazz as a recipient of the Outstanding Achiever Award to be presented at the CALS Spring Awards banquet and reception on Friday, May 4th.

Sarah Cook named Outstanding Senior in Engineering

Sarah Cook has been named the Outstanding Graduating Senior in the College of Engineering for Spring 2012.  Sarah is completing her degree in biosystems engineering.  Sarah is an excellent scholar and excelled in many areas beyond the classroom.  She servied as predident of our biosystems engineering student club and reinvogirated this after a number of quite years.  She assumed a leadership role in her senior design project to develop a portable aquaponics system (a combination

Bernadette Capossela named Outstanding Staff Member in CALS

All, it is my great pleasure to announce that our very own Bernadette Capossela has been named the Outstanding Staff Member in CALS for first quarter 2012.  Bernadette is the Administrative Assistant in ABE and serves many roles helping faculty, staff, and students with a variety of tasks.  She frequently goes above and beyond the call of duty to help people get what they need and we greatly appreciate all of her hard work. Please congratulate Bernadette for her outstanding work! Bernadette Capossela has been named the Outstanding Staff Member in CALS.

Congratulations to ABE Team on Winning the W.L. Gore and Associates "Creative Design Solutions Award" at Engineering Design Day

Please join us in congratulating Ramon Munoz, Franklin Garcia and Franklin Ventura for winning the Creative Design Solutions Award with their design of a “Very Quick Polymerase Chain Reaction Device”.  There were a total of 57 teams competing in this year’s competition with only three from ABE.  The team gets a check for $750!!  Dr.

Super tomatoes growing at CEAC

A study being led by Dr. Chieri Kubota received some good notoriety on the WebMD web site.  UA scientists are growing tomatoes that have a high concentration of lycopene, an antioxidant compound. By adding salt to the soil, the tomatoes experience stress, which causes them to produce more lycopene. The study could lead to improved food growing techniques in the U.S. http://www.webmd.com/diet/video/super-tomatoes

Greenhouse tomatoes produced close to Tucson

A story in the 12/26/11 AZ Daily Star reports that ground has been broken for the first of five 12-acre greenhouses on a 60-acre spread in Amado, south of Green Valley by Wholesum Family Farms. Completion of the first greenhouses is expected in August 2012, with production starting in October, involving the transplanting of 15- to 20-inch starts grown from traditionally bred Dutch seed in the company's nursery in Sonora, Mexico, said General Manager Ricardo Crisantes.

UA News article on use of sweet sorghum to feed the elephants at the Tucson zoo

Here is a nice story on the use of the sweet sorghum bagasse.  Dennis Ray from PLS is leading this activity, but is not listed in the story.  http://uanews.org/node/43834

Give Back the Grease

On Nov. 25, when leftovers line fridge shelves and stuffing recipes slip back into kitchen drawers, Thanksgiving feasters will have the opportunity to get rid of their waste cooking grease and help the environment in the process. During the 7th Annual Day-After-Thanksgiving Grease Drive, Tucson-based company Grecycle Arizona, LLC will collect used grease with several drop off points across Tucson.

Congratulations to Howard Wuertz (Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering alum)

 

San Angelo son works where the sun doesn't shine

Great article featuring our very own, Lane Patterson In a matter of months, Lane Patterson will be growing sunflowers in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. "We grow anything so long as it's edible," said Patterson, a field engineer for Raytheon Polar Services who manages the Food Growth Chamber at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica.

UA algae research fuels oil possibility (w/ video)

Each morning at the UA's Agriculture Experiment Station, pumps push water into shallow basins where the sun can better warm algae growing in it. Each night, the water returns to a canal where the limited surface area helps retain heat. The production system is intended to maintain the right temperatures for cultivating algae containing oil used to produce biofuels. This is an example of universities helping make algae a commercially viable crop for Arizona, said Randy Ryan, a University of Arizona researcher who developed the process with a partner.

High-Tech Hydroponic Farm Transforms Abandoned Bowling Alley

Great story posted on Wired Science about Gotham Greens, a company developed in part by Jenn Nelkin, UA PLS alum who came through CEAC.   http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/gotham-greens-hydroponic-farm/ From the Wired Science story: On top of an old bowling alley in industrial northern Brooklyn sits an expansive translucent greenhouse. Inside, a bounty of produce thrives under the supervision of a computer-controlled network of sensors, motors and plumbing.

UA student takes quick action in acid spill

Had a little extra excitement in the Shantz Bldg yesterday. We had a fire alarm and evacuation for 2hrs, back inside for 2 more hrs, and then another alarm. This all was caused by a nitric acid spill in one of the labs on the 5th floor (not an ABE lab or office). Quick thinking students (including one of our own) neutralized the acid with sodium bicarb.

Distinguished alumnus, Turki Faisal Al Rasheed, presenting a talk today on at 4pm in Marley 230.

Distinguished alumnus, Turki Faisal Al Rasheed, is on campus and will be presenting a talk today on “The Role of Agriculture and Water and How it will Enhance Security and the Promotion of Economic Growth” at 4pm in Marley 230. Mr. Al Rasheed received his B.S. in Ag Engineering from the UA in 1981. We are honored to have him return and share his insights. www.tfrasheed.org/e/

Strong showing for Biosystems in Dean's list for Spring 2011

The College of Engineering Dean’s list for Spring 2011 has been recently posted since Honors Convocation is this week. We have some of the best student on the campus in our biosystems engineering program. Please congratulate: Dean’s list with distinction (4.0 GPA for 15 or more units) Forest Danford Tarrah Folley   Dean’s list (3.5-3.9 GPA for 15 or more units) Evelyn Benitez Erin Chavez Dustin Harshman Mark Helmers

Automated lettuce thinner might save growers money on labor

Labor is one of the biggest input costs for vegetable growers. With lettuce, the average cost for thinning and weeding in the fields is more than $120 an acre. A new automated lettuce thinner developed by the University of Arizona (UA), which could be available commercially within the next year or two, might change that. The thinner was demonstrated at a field day at the Yuma Agricultural Center in Yuma, Ariz., in March, and in Salinas, Calif., in May.

Sierra Vista positions itself as nerve center of 'Napa-zona'

Sierra Vista may be the hummingbird capital of the United States, but with the city now promoting itself as "Napa-zona," that image could change.  Positioned between the wine-growing towns of Elgin/Sonoita and Willcox, Sierra Vista is in the center of Southeastern Arizona's expanding wine country. It takes from a half hour to two hours to drive from Sierra Vista to any of the 16 local licensed wineries and vineyards.  ABE's own Don Slack has been espousing the merits of Arizona grown wines for many years. 

Want Fresher Produce? Leave Dirt Behind

From The New York Times "Field crops can be taste-challenged because "they can be affected by too much rain or lack of rain, too much sun or lack of sun," said Gene Giacomelli, a hydroponic designer who is a professor of agricultural engineering at the UA. For both field-grown and hydroponic produce, he said, taste can be a complex mix of genetics, plant species, growing conditions and agricultural management."  

Biosciences: Growing and Thriving in Arizona

Bioscience: More than Medical Testing and Laboratories

How much biomass is present on our planet?

Easy question to ask, very challenging to address. There is greatly increasing interest in this question so as to evaluate the response of our plant to environmental change. Does elevated CO2 improve growth of plants? It should, but does it? To answer this correctly, we need to evaluate the growth of biomass and portioning of elements into different components of the biosphere especially accounting for seasonal variations. For more, see:  http://blog.ibe.org/  

Ladies and germs, start your engines… and, they’re off!!!

Applications are closing on June 30, 2011 for the First World Cell Race. Participants are encouraged to submit cell cultures to one of six laboratory “race tracks” which will conduct videomicroscopy trials of cell migration over a 100 um track. The cell which migrates the fastest will be declared the winner. This is a case where performance enhanced athletes are not only allowed but encouraged: both the modified and un-altered may enter.

Professional Science Master's Degree in Applied Biosciences

***APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN*** We're pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the recently redesigned Professional Science Master's Degree in Applied Biosciences. Application Deadline for the track in Controlled Environment Agriculture is June 15, 2011. The Professional Science Masters (PSM) in Applied Biosciences is designed to prepare students to enter a competitive, scientific workforce. The Applied Biosciences program consists of foundational and practical training in various areas of applied biosciences and along with a

Congratulations to Federico Villarreal Guerrero

Congratulations to Federico Villarreal Guerrero who just received a UA GPSC (Graduate and Professional Student Council) Travel Grant. 

How to Build a Hydroponic Garden - Dr. G on Martha Stewart

  Hydroponics is a specialized type of gardening that grows plants in soil-free nutrient solutions. An economical, environmentally friendly, and sustainable way to produce food, hydroponic gardens are grown in a controlled environment, so require only basic agriculture skills.

Harnessing the Power of Pond Scum

Joel Cuello, a professor in the department of agricultural and biosystems engineering, conducts research on algae for production of both biofuels and specialty chemicals.

Arizona Storytellers: Innovation pays off for longtime cotton farmer (Howard Wuertz, ABE alum)

Howard Wuertz has a longstanding interaction with the ABE department.  A stoy on him and his family was posted on azcentral news recently.  Howard get his degree in ag engineering.  His son Travis Wuertz is working on his ME in ABE.  Take a look at the link below. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/02/22/20110222arizona-storytellers-cotton-farmer-wuertz.html

Global water projects keep UA group busy

UA student group Engineers Without Borders is The organization that focuses on sustainable projects across the world that are community-driven and keep communities in charge   Dr. Joel Cuello in from abe is the current professional mentor for the group   azstarnet.com/news/local/education/college/article_ed8b4d83-7f2e-50ff-9821-6fd5683c3316.html      

Arizona Public Media - Lab-on-a chip developed by Yoon's group

Nice video posted at AZ Public Media (Starts at 1:40).  Great job to Dr. Yoon and his research team.  This appeared on Oct 12, 2010.  http://playpbs.azpm.org/video/1613845602

Forget what you know about good study habits

From a recent NY Times story (link below). In recent years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what matters most: how much a student learns from studying.

ABE Engineers Build Lunar Vegetable Garden

By Ed Stiles - August 30, 2010, 2:15 pm The first extraterrestrials to inhabit the moon probably won't be little green men, but they could be little green plants. Researchers at the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, known as CEAC, are demonstrating that plants from Earth could be grown hydroponically (without soil) on the moon or Mars, setting the table for astronauts who would find potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables awaiting their arrival.

‘Lab on a Chip’ Detects Human, Agricultural Contaminants

The UA's Jeong-Yeol Yoon is using glass-slide laboratories to detect E. coli in water and vegetables and to monitor disease in livestock. By Susan McGinley, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, July 19, 2010