2021 Young Engineer of the Year Award

Dr. Prasad Daggupati is an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Guelph, Canada. All his higher education is in Agricultural engineering where he received his BS degree (2012) from the College of Agricultural Engineering in India, Masters (2007) and Ph.D. (2012) degrees from Kansas State University in USA. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate and Assistant Research Scientist at Texas A&M University, USA before joining the University of Guelph. Dr. Daggupati’s major contributions to research and practical applications are towards solving emerging water quality and quantity issues using GIS, hydrological modeling, machine learning, and field experimentation at various scales (e.g. field scale, watershed scale) across multiple countries around the world. He has authored or coauthored 60+ peer-reviewed journal articles and presented more than 75 presentations which include podium, poster and keynotes. He is currently a division editor (Soil and Water) in the Canadian Biosystems Engineering journal and an associate editor in Transactions of ASABE and Applied Engineering in Agriculture. He was awarded Postdoc of the year award at SWAT conference in 2015 and Young Agricultural Engineer award in 2016 from the Texas section ASABE. He was also part of the Standards Development Award received during the 2018 Annual ASABE conference for developing a new standard (ASABE EP621) which sets guidelines for calibrating, validating and evaluating hydrological and water quality models. He is advisor/co-advisor for 4 phd students, 12 MASc students (6 graduated), 14 MEngg students (9 graduated) and 6 postdocs (3 finished).

2021 Glenn Downing Award

Dr. Nazim Cicek, P.Eng., is nominated for the Glenn Downing Award for 2021. Nazim has spent his entire academic career (beginning in 2001) in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Manitoba. Although hired based on his doctoral expertise related to biological treatment of municipal wastewater using membrane bioreactors, Nazim has established a research program that extends beyond this initial area of expertise. His background in chemical engineering has enabled a vibrant research collaboration with a team of microbiologists who have made substantial contributions to the microbial generation of biofuels and bioproducts using various sources of biomass. Previous research projects have investigated the production of bioplastics and bio-polymers from industrial waste streams in membrane bioreactors, optimization of bio-plastic production, enhanced bioenergy production through anaerobic co-digestion of dairy manure and local organic waste streams, and production of biomass fuel pellets and other value-added products from oat hulls. Of the 27 graduate students supervised or co-supervised during his academic career, 9 have completed graduate-level research related to bioenergy systems. A total of 44 refereed journal publications relate to bioenergy systems (out of his career total of 130 refereed journal papers). In addition to his research activity in the area of microbial generation of biofuels and bioproducts, Nazim has been a strong proponent behind the establishment of a Sustainability-in-Action Facility (SiAF) in the Department of Biosystems Engineering. SiAF is envisioned as a site that will provide experiential learning and demonstration opportunities for the University of Manitoba campus in areas of sustainability including northern/urban food production, renewable energy, building practices, and utilization of waste biomass fibre. Dr. Nazim Cicek, P.Eng. is a worthy recipient of the Glenn Downing Award.

2021 John Clark Award

Akinbode Adedeji, PhD is nominated for the 2021 John Clark Award in recognition of his dedicated contributions to engineering for agricultural, food and biological systems with a specific focus on Food Engineering as well as his outstanding service to CSBE/SCGAB and ASABE through his editorial and leadership activities. Akinbode is originally from Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, graduated as a Bachelor of Technology in Food Engineering from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria and began his graduate studies in food technology at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He obtained a PhD in Bioresource Engineering from McGill University in 2010 with his thesis focusing on the various physical properties and engineering characteristics of the most commonly consumed kids favorite - chicken nuggets. In 2014, Dr. Adedeji joined University of Kentucky as an assistant professor of food engineering. His research interests have been focused on food engineering for increasing the use of underutilized grain value-addition (physicochemical characterization, baking quality, and extrusion process development), bourbon waste conversion to value-added products (high fiber source; protein extraction), abiotic stress effect on functionality change in food macromolecules and bioactive compound accumulation, non-invasive characterization of foods using hyperspectral imaging and acoustic emission –machine learning approach, and non-thermal processing (pulsed UV light, ultrasonication) of food.

2021 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award

Contribution: Mathematical Models Of Stored-Grain Ecosystems For Management Of Stored Grains                                                

Digvir Jayas and Fuji Jian

Globally, more than 3.2 Gt (billion tonnes) of grains, pulses and oilseeds (hereinafter collectively referred to as grains) are produced annually and stored at many points after harvesting, prior to being delivered to processors and domestic and international consumers. Post-harvest losses range from 2% in North America to 30% in developing countries. When spoilage occurs in an individual storage bin, 100% of the grain can become unfit for human consumers and sometimes even unfit as animal feed. Drs. Jayas and Jian have been working together for over 15 years towards the development of mathematical models as management tools for reducing quantitative and qualitative losses in stored grains. Our major contributions are to model insect movement and detection in grains and for drying of grains.

2021 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award

Contribution: Safe Use of Untreated or Partially Treated Wastewater in Agriculture                                                            

Dr. Shiv Prasher 

Field lysimeters, 1.0 m height x 0.45 m diameter, were used to determine the fate, transport, and translocation of heavy metals in irrigation water in potatoes and spinach plants grown on a sandy soil. Plantain peel biochar (1% w/w) was incorporated in the top 0.1 m of soil. Control and biochar treatments were replicated three times in a completely randomized. Results showed that all heavy metals accumulated in the topsoil. No heavy metals were detected in the leachate. Heavy metals also translocated to all parts of the potato plant, including roots, peel, flesh, and shoots. Biochar amendment significantly reduced (p<0.05) Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn in the flesh. In spinach, biochar amendment reduced Zn uptake by 42%. Yields, however, were not significantly different between the treatments.

2021 Fellow Award

Dr. Nazim Cicek, PhD, P.Eng., is granted the CSBE/SCGAB grade of Fellow, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Engineering for agricultural, food and biological systems through research, student training, and service to CSBE/SCGAB. 

Dr. Cicek is a productive researcher and caring teacher. As a faculty member at University of Manitoba for the past 20 years, Dr. Cicek has developed a strong research program in the area of waste management. He has published 130 papers in refereed journals and received about $3M in research funding. As a teacher, Dr. Cicek cares about students. He is always there if students have any questions. He has supervised 33 graduate students and many undergraduate students. Dr. Cicek is highly regarded by the local communities for his expertise in waste management and sustainable energy sources. He has worked closely with several local organizations on various environment and energy related issues and wrote many popular articles for local newspapers, covering such topics as electric vehicles, carbon taxes, and public transportation. His contributions to research and education are well recognized locally and nationally. He received the CSBE/SCGAB John Turnbull Award, the CSBE/SCGAB Jim Beamish Award, and the Manitoba Excellence in Sustainability Award in the Category of Innovation and Research for Sustainability.

ASABE  ¼ Scale Tractor Student Design Competition - $500

Design and construction of a four-wheel-drive tractor taking into consideration the rules specified by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE)

Université Laval,  Équipe ULtrac – M. Deschenes, A. Desroches, A. Trottier, V. Lacasse, L. Lampron,  A. Voghell, L. Chapron, P. Desautels, J. Fréchette,  R. Leclerc

McGill University, Mutrac – A. Mescheder, A. Kaufman, A. Leak, A. Pille, A. Gleason, A. Herring, G. Fletcher, H. Macek, I. Karovitch, J. Smith, J. Lan, K. Simpson, R. del Sol Cook, S. MacDonald, S. McGuire

CSBE/SCGAB FOUNDATION  Undergraduate Scholarship - $300

Recognizes academic excellence among student members of the Society.  The Scholarship is awarded each year to the student member of the Society with the highest GPA in the preceding semester.

University of Manitoba – S. Harris

McGill University – Ms. K. Trumpler

Université Laval – F. Santerre

Dalhousie University - C. Toombs

Graduate Thesis Award (PhD) -  $200

McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering – H. M. Jahromi for his thesis entitled “Graded cellular structures: a strategy to tune the structural performance of cellular materials”. (Advisor: H. Akbarzadeh)

McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering - N. Gaj for his thesis entitled “An integrated approach to perforation analysis and design for corrugated drainage pipes”. (Advisor: C. Madramootoo)

McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering - J. J. Malard for his thesis entitled “Méthodes pour la modélisation dynamique des composantes socioéconomiques et biologiques des systèmes agricoles à petite echelle” (Co-Supervisors: J. Adamowski, H. Melgar-Quiñonez)

University of Manitoba – U. Edet for a thesis entitled “Design of an interface for remotely supervised autonomous agricultural sprayers” (Advisor: D. Mann)

University of Manitoba – H. Hsu for a thesis entitled “Multifunctional flexible conductive materials for supercapacitors and biosensors” (Advisor: W. Zhong).

Graduate Thesis Award (MSc) - $200

McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering – X. Dong for her thesis entitled “Effects of ultrasound and microwave processing on physiochemical and allergenic properties of shrimp”. (Advisor: V. Raghavan)

McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering – J. R. Spiers for his thesis “Deepsoil: A deep-learning framework for rapid low-cost estimation of soil particle size distributions from digital mic”. (Advisor: V. Adamchuk)

Dalhousie University – P. Hennessy for his thesis “Convolutional Neural Networks for Real-Time Weed Identification in Wild Blueberry Production”. (Advisor: T. Esau)

University of Manitoba – J. Rentz for a thesis entitled “The effects of the Portage Diversion on adjacent agricultural land” (Advisor: R. Sri Ranjan)

University of Manitoba  - M. Green for a thesis entitled “Measurement of latency during real-time video transmission for remote supervision of agricultural machines” (Advisors: D. Mann and E. Hossain).

Université Laval – M. Jacques for a thesis “Impacts de la sévérité du stress hydrique sur la réponse photosynthétique et le rendement de la pomme de terre/ Impacts of the severity of water stress on the photosynthetic response and yield of potato” (Advisors: S. José Gumiere and J. Gallichand).

The University of Guelph – A. Goswami  for a thesis “ The Evaluation of Statistical Models in Water Quality Constituents Load Estimation in Southern Ontario, Canada”. (Advisors: P. Daggupati and R. Rudra).

Undergraduate Awards - $100

Université Laval - Undergraduate Design Project – M. Guillemette; D. Patry; V. Richard for a project « Conception d'un procédé de valorisation des sous-produits provenant de la culture de choux de Bruxelles / Design of a process for valuing by-products from the cultivation of Brussels sprouts ». (Advisor : M. Aider)

University of Manitoba -  L.  Bridgeman for a thesis entitled “Coaxial extrusion-based bioprinting of small blood vessels for clinical use: a comprehensive literature review” (Advisor: W. Zhong)

University of Manitoba - G.  Loewen for a thesis entitled “Universal and accessible design in video game controllers” (Advisors: J. Ripat, J. Paliwal)

McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering – J. Russell, I. Tazi and F. Caldera for a project entitled Optimizing Liquid Fertilizer Bioreactor for Dynamic Hydroponic Systems” (Advisor: C. Madramootoo)

McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering – A. Bucci, K. Pantemis, L. Corbeil-Phillips, and R. Martinez for a project entitled « Cellulose-based hygienic flushable wipes » (Advisors: M. Lefsrud and C. Madramootoo)