A Sweeping Success
Last week, more than 60 students, faculty, and staff from NC State University traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting.
Our department made a fantastic showing across design competitions, research presentations, industry discussions, and networking events—bringing several first-place awards back home to Raleigh!
HydroPack winning first place in the Fountain Wars competition. 
The Bioprocessing team competed in a “shark tank” style competition. 
The RoboPack team with their first place robot. 
HydroPack with their first place fountain! 
Natalie Nelson received the New Holland Award. 
Silver Hyatt and Harrison DeVane present their senior design project. 
Payton Bell presents her team’s senior design project and secures first place. 
George Hotelling was among the NC State students who traveled to present their research. 
Caleb Barker, Madelyn Field, and Katherine Judy receive second place for their senior design project.
Student Achievements
- Gunlogson Environmental Design Competition — First Place
- Community-Driven Stormwater Infrastructure for the City of Wilson. Team: Anisha Sivayogan, Madalyn Sorensen, Payton Bell, and Jacob Delos Santos
- Fountain Wars — First Place
- Team: Parker Bolton, Grant Johnson, Georgia Reichling, Hannah Moore, Finley Bush, Aidan Bush, and Ani Yu
- Special recognition for innovative design and longest track.
- Team: Parker Bolton, Grant Johnson, Georgia Reichling, Hannah Moore, Finley Bush, Aidan Bush, and Ani Yu
- Bioprocessing Competition — First Place
- Team: Sai Gosala, Lilly Lower, Rishita Tubati, and Tindra Tramontano
- Robotics Competition — First Place
- Team: Cassandra Sullivan, Matthew Gallimore, Ethan Mullen, Keller Virgilio, Sai Gosala, and Lexi McLaughlin. Mentor: ShengDao Du
- AGCO National Student Design Competition — Second Place
- Native Seed Coating Project. Team: Team: Caleb Barker, Madelyn Field, Katherine Judy, and Jake Willard
- AGCO National Student Design Competition — Third Place
- Peanut Combine Fine Debris Management. Team: Silver Hyatt, Nathan Kiger, Duke Carroll, Vance Jones, and Harrison DeVane
- K.K. Barnes Student Paper Award — Third Place
- Charlize Ganse
- Yoerger Preprofessional Award
- Grant Johnson
Faculty Achievements
- Ling Wang-Li was named a Fellow of ASABE.
- Natalie Nelson received the New Holland Award.
- Joe Sagues received the Holloway Award and received a Presidential Citation for his service to CBI and the Bioprocessing Competition.
- François Birgand and Wayne Skaggs received the Outstanding Paper of the Year Award.
Durelle Scott, BAE department head, recognized the excitement surrounding all the competitions and research discussions as he made his way around the conference.
“Some may wonder how it happens or what the secret sauce is,” Scott says. “I would suggest it is a combination of our collective work, the community and learning environment fostered throughout our program, a desire to win and the fact that it is fun!”