Glenn Downing Award
This award is presented annually to the CSBE/SCGAB member who, in the opinion of the Awards Committee, has produced outstanding work in industry, teaching, research, or extension in the area of machinery systems, or bioenergy systems. The recipient is selected from nominations from at least three members of CSBE/SCGAB. and must have been a member of the Society for at least five years.
Ce prix est décerné chaque année à un membre qui s'est distingué dans le domaine du machinisme agricole ou en bioénergie par l'enseignement, la recherche, la vulgarisation ou le travail en industrie. Le récipiendaire du prix Glenn-Downing est choisi parmi les candidats mis en nomination par trois membres et est membre de la SCGAB/CSBE depuis au moins cinq ans.
Nomination Form
2024 Glenn Downing Award
Dr. Kenny Corscadden started his career in the Royal Air Force, followed by other entrepreneurial, business, and technical roles, leading to executive positions in industry in both the United Kingdom and Canada. Following a successful industrial career, he transitioned to academia and served in nine academic and administrative leadership roles in a variety of post-secondary institutions.
As a Vice President-Academic and Research, he represents the Lethbridge College provincially and nationally, engaging post-secondary institutions, such as the University of Prince Edward Island and Dalhousie. He has been extremely active within the local community to develop sustainable applied solutions. His initiative led to creation of an Advanced Postharvest Technology Centre the Lethbridge College. This Centre focuses on reducing the spoilage of local major crops including potatoes, sugar beets and grains, oil seeds, and pulses.
Dr. Corscadden is an experienced multi-disciplinary researcher with a reputation for research achievement and excellence across a range of engineering, applied science and socio-economic projects. Between 2009 and 2021, he secured $10M from a range of funding sources, including NSERC Discovery, MITACS and CFI. He supervised and trained over 30 post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and research assistants, cooperative undergraduate students, and interns. His research program has a primary focus on renewable and green technology but extends to include multi-disciplinary collaboration in the areas of business, engineering, science, social science, and humanities. He has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, including a white paper with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. He has presented the significance of his research at the international conferences, industry meetings, and field days. He has served on numerous professional and technical committees at the college, regional, national and international levels. He has also taught a range of subjects at diploma, undergraduate and graduate levels.
Kenny Corscadden a commencé sa carrière dans la Royal Air Force, avant d'exercer d'autres fonctions entrepreneuriales, commerciales et techniques, qui l'ont amené à occuper des postes de direction dans l'industrie, tant au Royaume-Uni qu'au Canada. Après une carrière industrielle réussie, il s'est tourné vers le monde universitaire et a occupé neuf postes de direction académique et administrative dans divers établissements d'enseignement supérieur.
En tant que vice-président chargé de l'enseignement et de la recherche, il représente le Lethbridge College aux niveaux provincial et national, auprès d'établissements d'enseignement supérieur tels que l'Université de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard et l'Université Dalhousie. Il a été extrêmement actif au sein de la communauté locale pour développer des solutions appliquées durables. Son initiative a conduit à la création d'un centre de technologie post-récolte avancée au Lethbridge College. Ce centre se concentre sur la réduction de la détérioration des principales cultures locales, notamment les pommes de terre, les betteraves sucrières et les céréales, les graines oléagineuses et les légumineuses.
M. Corscadden est un chercheur multidisciplinaire expérimenté, réputé pour ses réalisations et son excellence en matière de recherche dans le cadre de divers projets d'ingénierie, de sciences appliquées et socio-économiques. Entre 2009 et 2021, il a obtenu 10 millions de dollars de diverses sources de financement, notamment le programme Discovery du CRSNG, MITACS et la FCI. Il a supervisé et formé plus de 30 boursiers postdoctoraux, étudiants diplômés et assistants de recherche, étudiants coopératifs de premier cycle et stagiaires. Son programme de recherche est principalement axé sur les technologies vertes et renouvelables, mais il s'étend également à la collaboration multidisciplinaire dans les domaines de l'économie, de l'ingénierie, des sciences, des sciences sociales et des sciences humaines. Il est coauteur de plus de 50 articles de journaux évalués par des pairs, dont un livre blanc rédigé en collaboration avec la School of Public Policy de l'Université de Calgary. Il a présenté l'importance de ses recherches lors de conférences internationales, de réunions industrielles et de journées sur le terrain. Il a fait partie de nombreux comités professionnels et techniques aux niveaux collégial, régional, national et international. Il a également enseigné toute une série de sujets aux niveaux du diplôme, de la licence et du master.
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.
2020 Glenn Downing Award
Dr. Fahimeh Yazdan Panah is the recipient of the 2020 Glen Downing Award for her contributions to engineering for biological systems through her research and leadership activities. In addition to her academic and professional qualifications, Fahimeh has demonstrated business acumen, technical expertise, and skills necessary to succeed in all of her endeavors. Fahimeh is currently Research Director for the Wood Pellet Association of Canada and a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia.
2019 Glenn Downing Award
Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Dr. Viacheslav Adamchuk obtained a mechanical engineering degree from the National Agricultural University of Ukraine in his hometown. Later, he received both MS and PhD degrees in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue University. Shortly after graduating , Dr. Adamchuk began his academic career as a faculty member in the Biological Systems Engineering Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There, he taught university students, conducted research and delivered outreach programs relevant to precision agriculture, spatial data management, and education robotics. Also he was involved in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tractor testing program and developed a methodology to validate the accuracy of tractor auto-guidance systems. After almost ten years in Nebraska, Dr. Adamchuk was appointed to the Bioresource Engineering Department at McGill University, while retaining his adjunct status at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dr. Adamchuk’s research has focused on the development and deployment of on-the-go soil sensing technology to enhance the economic and environmental benefits of precision agriculture. Since he began his research in the mid 90s, Dr. Adamchuk developed and evaluated a fleet of on-the-go soil sensor prototypes capable of mapping physical and chemical soil attributes while moving across an agricultural field. These sensors produce geo-referenced data to quantify spatial soil heterogeneity, which may be used to prescribe differentiated soil treatments according to local needs. Along with his work on sensors, Dr. Adamchuk has conducted numeric analysis of the agro-economic value of sensor-based information to aid in the successful deployment of emerging on-the-go sensing technology. Through recent studies on soil and crop sensor fusion and data clustering, he was able to further investigate the challenges faced by early adopters. Through his outreach activities, Dr. Adamchuk has taught a number of programs dedicated to a systems approach in adopting smart farming technologies around the world. Dr, Adamchuk is a worthy recipient of the Glenn Downing Award.
2018 Glenn Downing Award
Venkatesh Meda started at the Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering (now, Chemical and Biological Engineering) at the University of Saskatchewan in August 2002. Prior to that, Dr. Meda worked as a Project Development Officer, Office of Vice-President, McGill University during 2000-2002. From 1994-2000, he was a graduate student and research assistant in Bioresource Engineering at McGill University. He has extensively participated in strategic discussion(s) /seminars conducted by CIDA, World Bank, Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS), ICRISAT on post-harvest engineering.
Dr. Meda has a well-established research program on utilising electro-technologies for handling and processing agri-food materials. His expertise in mechanical optimization of a grape harvester and the development of a double shoot on a disc drill have received industry recognition (Case New Holland, Inc.). His collaborative initiatives with the Prairie fruit growers resulted in technology development for appropriate processing for harvesting, cleaning and drying operations which aided in revitalisation of Saskatchewan’s fruit industry.
Dr. Meda completed several research projects under the Agricultural Bioproducts Innovation Network grants during 2007-2011 connecting researchers across Canada, AAFC (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), and Industry partners in bioenergy, biofuels and bioproducts. For the past few years, Dr. Meda has been working in projects dealing with utilisation of electromagnetic energy for downstream processing across the value-chain; crop flow modeling; co-product utilisation in bio refineries, and most recently in the Protein Industries Canada Supercluster effort.
Dr. Meda was awarded as ‘distinguished Professor’ by Karunya University, India in 2011 and NIFTEM, Government of India (2014, 2018) for his outstanding contributions in the field of Food, Chemical & Biological Engineering. He has supervised several M.Sc./Ph.D/PDFs and published in high quality journals. Dr. Meda’s enthusiasm continues to thrive on integrating approaches to food systems ultimately addressing global food security challenges.
