UA ENGINEERING STUDENTS WIN AGCO STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. - The American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) recently awarded University of Arkansas students first place in the AGCO Student Design Competition at their 2003 ASAE Annual International Meeting in Las Vegas.

The winning project, designed, built and tested by UA biological and agricultural engineering seniors Willie Dillahunty of Gentry, Clay McDaniel of Stuttgart and James Geurtz of Fort Smith, was titled "Growth Chamber for Bio-Regenerative Life Support," a low-pressure growth chamber.

The AGCO Student Design Competition encourages undergraduate students to participate in the basic design of an engineering project useful to agriculture and related areas and to provide an arena of professionalism in which the student can experience peer recognition of a well conceived and executed design project.

The team, advised by Dr. Tom Costello, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering, and Dr. Scott Osborn, assistant professor of biological engineering, competed against teams from Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University. The UA team's win earned it $1,250 and a certificate of recognition. Additionally, Dillahunty, McDaniel and Geurtz each received desk plaques.

The department received an award plaque inscribed with the names of the design team and their faculty advisors and a $300 scholarship from ASAE.

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Marie Wichser, hometown news coordinator mwichser@uark.edu, (479) 575-7346