From the Chair

Graduate students are incredibly important and valued members of our BAE community of scholars. They broaden our cultural perspectives. They contribute to collaborative learning and teaching. They participate in stakeholder outreach activities. Most of all, they are active contributors to the intellectual work that comprises our strong portfolio of research across food, environment, energy, and health. As I write this introduction, I just left the dissertation defense seminar of one of our Ph.D. students, and I am reminded that our outstanding graduate students also inspire, motivate, and challenge us with their deep enthusiasm and knowledge in their specific research areas, and their unique perspectives about university life and the world in general.

Our department has what is probably the most diverse range of funding sources supporting graduate students that we have ever had, including (just as examples): USDA, NSF, NIH, EPA, DOD, DHS, multiple important state agencies, industry foundations, and numerous commodity groups and private companies, in addition to various fellowship programs, such as NSF and Fulbright. This funding and the addition of six new faculty members in BAE (more info in the next newsletter!) all contribute to our goal of increasing the size and quality of our graduate program and therefore the positive impacts on the students, the department, and our stakeholders.

Therefore, the stories in this issue highlight just a few examples of our outstanding graduate students, demonstrating both the diversity and commonality of their work – all focused on our mission to improve quality of life through lab-based, field-based, modeling, and stakeholder-engaged projects.

Please feel free to drop me a note anytime if you want to discuss ideas or opportunities for graduate-level project partnerships.

Go Green!

Bradley Marks, Ph.D., P.E.

Professor and Department Chair

MSU Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

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Food

BAE Graduate Student Shows that Statistics are Worth the Effort in Food Safety

In a lab-scale setting is how many aspects of food safety research take place. The challenge with taking research from the lab to the industry is scaling it up without creating too much difference in the variability of outcomes. This is the challenge Ian Hildebrandt has set out to answer throughout his academic and professional career.

With concerns about invalidating your processes and deeming them unsafe, organizations tend to be intimidated by embracing statistics. Hildebrandt’s Ph.D. work focuses on the statistical analysis of data provided by organizations such as the Almond Board of California to improve validation guidelines used to ensure their food products are safe.

Environment

Irrigation Efficiency Improved by BAE Graduate Student Using Low-cost Sensor Technology

Water usage has been a challenge for researchers and farmers for years. While water management has come a long way with the development of technologies such as irrigation and recycling water, there is still an opportunity to improve. This challenge is precisely what Brenden Kelley has set out to answer in his Master's Degree.

Kelley’s project, which the USDA NRCS funds, focuses on improving irrigation efficiency and disease management with low-cost sensor technology and scheduling methods. They utilize LOCOMOS (Low-Cost Sensor Monitoring System), developed by the research group, to collect in-field soil and environmental conditions to make better-informed decisions on when to water and how much to water and minimize the potential risk of plant diseases.

Energy

Decision Support Tool Developed by BAE Graduate Student for Solar Energy on Dairy Farms

Helen Miller always knew she wanted her work to combine her passions, engineering, and people. Through her education, she was driven to understand how machines work as well as the people who use them. In 2020, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, with an additional major in Psychology and a minor in Agribusiness management. During her senior year, she didn’t feel ready to go into the industry, and there was more for her to learn in school.

Since starting her master’s, Miller has been focusing her thesis on creating a decision-support tool for dairy farmers to determine if they can switch to solar power for their energy needs. Miller has been participating in courses in web design and coding to build the online platform to house the decision-making tool.

Health

BAE Graduate Student Creates a Cost-Effective Method of Detecting Antimicrobial-Resistant Bacteria

Protecting the food chain from farm to fork has been at the top of Oznur Caliskan-Aydogan's mind since she was a child. As a daughter of a farmer in the small village of Tokat in Turkey, her life inspired to get higher education in agriculture and food area. Then she completed a Bachelor of Science in Food Engineering at Erciyes University, Turkey.

She wanted to learn sensing systems, especially integrated with nanotechnology in microbial detection techniques. She sought out BAE Professor Evangelyn Alocilja, Ph.D., and Caliskan-Aydogan started her Ph.D. in Alocilja's lab, The Nano-Biosensors Lab, in Fall 2018.

“Nanoparticle-based biosensors offer cost-effective and rapid solutions for the early detection of pathogens, enhancing food safety and saving lives.” Caliskan-Aydogan said.

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