2019 NC ASABE State Section Meeting

By REBECCA NAGY

The Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering again hosted the North Carolina American Society of Biological and Agricultural Engineers (ASABE) State Section Meeting at Weaver Labs. The meeting brought together students, staff, faculty, industry and government representatives from across the state.

This year the event had a special focus on industry perspectives and brought in speakers and experts from global industries based right here in the triangle.

Paul Adams of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services kicked off the program with a keynote address on industrial hemp in North Carolina. He gave an update on the rapidly growing industry of hemp in the state and the opportunities, rules, and regulations that come with a new industry.

Next, updates were provided from both NC State’s and North Carolina A&T’s biological engineering programs as well as an update on NC State BAE’s Department of Energy grant to study giant miscanthus and technologies for the environmental assessment of Miscanthus cultivation.

The Industry Perspectives Panel brought together representatives from Bayer CropScience, Cotton, Inc., Kriss Bass Engineering, Syngenta, AgriWaste Technology and Pfizer. After lunch, updates from NC State and NC A&T ASABE student sections were given as well as updates from Pack Pullers, Alpha Epsilon, and the NC State BAE Graduate Student Association.

As in previous years, the event was followed by the NC State ASABE student chapter’s fall career fair. McAdams, LDSI and Withers Ravenel sponsored the career fair.  Alongside the career fair, graduate and undergraduate students also took part in a research poster session. This was a great opportunity for NC State and NC A&T students to learn about each others work, and for BAE faculty and staff to learn about the innovative work and potential for collaborations within the department and between the universities.

 

Thanks to the companies who attended the career fair!

ABCO Automation

Agri-Waste Technology

Cape Fear Engineering

Cavanaugh and Associates

Custom Control Unlimited, Inc.

Hazen & Sawyer

Kymanox

LDSI, Inc.

McAdams

NC Department of Transportation

NC Department of Environmental Quality

Schnabel Engineering

Stantec

Stewart Engineering

Syngenta

WK Dickson

Wright Contracting

Withers Ravenel

US Environmental Protection Agency