2020 Young Engineer of the Year Award
Dr. Aitazaz Farooque is an Associate Professor & Industry Research Chair – Precision Agriculture at the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island. Based on his student-centered approach to teaching by going above and beyond for students and encouraging students to push the boundaries of their learning, he has been awarded with Dalhousie University Teaching Impact Award 2015. He was also awarded with the Engineers PEI Award for Engineering Excellence 2018 for excellence in the practice of engineering, the teaching of engineering and engineering research. He is also a recipient of the 2019 Presidential Award for Combined Achievement (teaching, research and service) from the University of Prince Edward Island. He is a Professional Engineer and registered in both PEI and Nova Scotia. Dr. Farooque’s research focuses on fundamental understanding and development of state of the art PA technologies for Eastern Canada’s agriculture industry. Development of innovative and novel PA systems utilizes knowledge of engineering design, development and management, instrumentation, design and evaluation of sensors and controllers, development of hardware and software for automation of machines to sense targets in real-time for spot application of agrochemicals on an as-needed basis to improve farm profitability while maintaining environmental sustainability. . Dr. Farooque has developed collaborations nationally and internationally. Dr. Farooque highlighted the significance of his research in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, workshops, industry meetings and farmer’s field days. He is supervising undergraduate and graduate students. He is a Professional Engineer and registered in both PEI and Nova Scotia
2020 John Turnbull Award
Dr. Huiqing Guo, P.Eng., is awarded the Canadian Society for Bioengineering (CSBE/SCGAB) John Turnbull award for her outstanding contribution to teaching, research and professional service in agricultural building systems engineering. Huiqing has been a Professor at of the University of Saskatchewan since 2002, before 2013 in the Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering, after 2013 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She is a Professional Engineer in the Province of Saskatchewan since 2002. She is a twenty-twoyear member of CSBE/SCGAB. She has served on the CSBE/SCGAB Awards Committee since 2004 as member, Vice Chair, Past Chair; she has served as moderators/chair for numerous technical sessions at CSBE/SCGAB annual conferences, coordinated the CSBE/SCGAB President visit to the U of S, and chaired the 2006 CSBE/ASABE Regional Conference Committee. Huiqing is the recipient of one ASABE Superior Paper Award. Huiqing teaches various courses in the area of animal and plant structures and environment and remains very active in research in this area and she has expanded her research area to air quality in environmental engineering. Her research results contribute to the knowledge in the areas of animal production environment, greenhouse environment, and air emission impact assessment for agricultural sources, especially air dispersion modeling and setback determination.
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.
2020 Jim Beamish Award
Dr. Zhiming Qi is recognized for his research, teaching and services to his professional engineering societies in the area of soil and water engineering. He has led very strong research programs in modelling the loss of phosphorus from agricultural lands, development of computer models for water quality assessments, and prediction of greenhouse gases from fertilizers and manures. He has published over 65 papers in refereed journals, and has delivered over 60 technical presentations at CSBE, ASABE and CWRA conferences. He has also been invited by Hohai University, China Agricultural University, and Nankai University in China to deliver talks on his research findings. He teaches large undergraduate courses in land development engineering and surveying, and he also attracts large numbers of undergraduate and graduate students to his course in water quality management. Zhiming has so far trained 13 MSc and PhD students and currently supervises 6 graduate students and several visiting scientists. Zhiming has served CSBE and ASABE in many capacities in the soil water technical area, and was the President of the Association of Overseas Chinese Agricultural, Biological and Food Engineers (AOCABFE). Zhiming is a very collegial member of our faculty and collaborates with researchers at McGill, AAFC, China and the US on a range of soil and water engineering topics. Zhiming’s work has social benefits as it seeks to reduce environmental pollution in agriculture, while economically maximizing profits to farmers.
2020 John Clark Award
Dr. Manick Annamalai obtained bachelors (Agricultural Engineering) and masters (Food Process Engineering) from the Tamilnadu Agricultural University (India) and PhD (Biosystems Engineering) from the University of Manitoba. Manick has 20 years of experience in academia and food industries. At present, he is an Associate Professor with the School of Engineering at the University of Guelph.
His research activities are in two main streams: 1. Bio-imaging techniques for food safety and quality 2. Processing and product development for health and wellness (whole grains, pulses, and healthy sugar substitute). He has published 63 articles in peer reviewed journals and 17 book chapters, edited 9 books and presented more than 100 conference papers.
He has secured more than 2 million dollars in research grants as a Principal Applicant and Co-Applicant through 21 projects. He has supervised and graduated 12 postgraduate students as a main supervisor. He currently advises or co-advises 10 PhD students. He has been working continuously to develop novel quality assessment tools for wide range of food industries to improve the profitability and food safety.
Apart from scientific research and development, Manick has the passion to communicate the nutrition knowledge to the community. To promote whole grain consumption, improve their availability, and motivate researchers across the world, he established “Whole Grains Research Foundation” in 2015 as a Founder and President. Using this foundation, he has been organizing whole grain conferences and workshops. As Chairman, so far, he has organized 8 international Conferences/Symposium/Workshop on whole grains.
2020 Industrial Award
Dion Ag. Inc. is a long standing and well-established company serving farmers in North America and other places worldwide. It provides supply contracts to tens of companies locally, many small business, which specialize in manufacturing or service fields. The company has acquired a flexible and efficient engineering capabilities to efficiently develop high tech products. Its production model is flexible and maintains a strong stable workforce. The company’s business culture promotes leadership, training and skill development of its employees. Future engineers and research projects are regularly supported in the benefit of both the advancement of the company and students.
From the first threshers in 1920 which boosted grain harvester capabilities to the latest Scorpion 350 forage harvester, the most advance pull-type forage harvester in the world, with Isobus controls and stepless hydraulic feed roll drive enabling the use of the full potential and technology available in today’s tractor, Dion Ag. Inc. designs and manufactures products mainly addressed to family farms, helping them be more productive and more profitable. These farms are part of the essential economic and social backbone of rural communities. The company has accompanied them adopting the most recent production methods and systems efficiently.
Through good and harsh times, the Dion brand has succeeded in staying relevant and recognized, reinventing itself over the last 100 years to remain in phase or ahead of the current trends.
2020 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award
Contribution: Research in soil and water engineering
Ramesh Rudra Ph.D., P.Eng. is the recipient of the CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award for his outstanding contributions to research in soil and water engineering. Dr. Rudra is a professor of Water Resources Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Guelph. He obtained the B. Sc. in Agricultural Engineering in 1970 from the Punjab Agricultural University (India) and M.S. in Agricultural Engineering in 1976 and Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering in 1980 from the Pennsylvania State University (USA).
The focus of Dr. Rudra’s research program has been on the development of agricultural nonpoint source pollution control practices for Ontario’s climatic conditions, including mechanics and modelling of processes of drainable water quantity and quality at plot, field, and watershed scale. His contributions include innovative ways of introducing the concept of temporal variations in soil hydraulic and erosion characteristics, targeting approaches for agricultural watershed management, mutli-tier approaches to watershed management, and modelling and monitoring procedures to identify sources of runoff, erosion and pollution from agricultural watersheds.
Ramesh’s research group introduced the application of modelling approaches for agricultural non-point source pollution management during 1980’s and SWAT modeling in the Canadian Great Lakes basin in early 2000. The modelling approaches and the SWAT model are currently used by many conservation authorities in Ontario and many other public and private sectors in Canada. His recent research work has focused on winter hydrology of Ontario, variable source hydrology, effect of climate change on precipitation and temperature regimes, and nutrient management.
Dr. Rudra has supervised over 120 Highly Qualified Personnel (M.Sc, M.Eng., Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Research Fellows), published more than 200 refereed publications, ten book chapters, one book, and more than 550 presentations at national and international conferences, workshops and symposia. For his exceptional services to CSBE and significant contributions to soil and water engineering field in Canada, Dr. Rudra received the CSBE’s Maple Leaf Award in 2018. He was elected to the grade of Fellow by CSBE in 2005. Ramesh was also made a Fellow of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers in 2012.
2020 Fellow Award
Amit Kumar, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a Professor at the University of Alberta (U of A). He has worked in the area of bioenergy and biofuels for 20 years. His focus has been in biomass supply and logistics and its conversion for the production of energy and fuels. He has made significant contributions in the assessing the environmental and economic footprints of bioenergy systems and is a pioneer in the development of pipeline transport of biomass. He currently holds the NSERC/Cenovus/Alberta Innovates Associate Industrial Research Chair in Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering and the Cenovus Energy Endowed Chair in Environmental Engineering. He also holds Cenovus Energy Endowed Chair in Environmental Engineering. He serves as the Deputy Director of Future Energy Systems, a $75 million initiative at the U of A funded by the Government of Canada through their Canada First Research Excellence Fund. Dr. Kumar has co-authored more than 275 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters and technical reports. He has chaired and moderated several sessions at international/national conferences and co-authored more than 420 conference presentations/publications (109 invited). There are 28 media mentions on his research.
Over the last 20 years, Amit has been a strong supporter of CSBE, serving in various roles including regional director (Alberta), Chair and Awards Committee member, and an Associate Editor of Canadian Journal of Bioengineering. He has also helped organize the CSBE Annual General Meeting in Edmonton. Through his leadership, several new engineers have become members of the society. He has trained more than 190 highly qualified personnel. In 2011, Amit was named CSBE Young Engineer of the Year.
Amit has served on expert review panels and steering committees as chair and member including the European Commission, the National Science Foundation (USA), Natural Resources Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the California Environmental Protection Agency. He has been theme lead/member of 10 international and national research networks.
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 – J. Fréchette (Leader), G. Lafond, F. Daigneault, É. Marineau-Bélanger, L. Lampron, S. Le Bouthillier, W. Falcon, A. Voghell, J. Mallet, P. Désautels
McGill University, Mutrac – A. Pille, S. McGuire, L. Diaz-Pappas, I. Karovitch, H. Macek, C. Wells, A. Leak, A.Kujiper, D. John, L. Mescheder, N. Audi, V. T. Paepcke, M. Leclerc
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 – Eva Kwok
McGill University – Beatrice Reid
Université Laval - Étienne Marineau-Bélanger
University of Prince Edward Island- Sydney Wheatley
Dalhousie University - Spencer Hauser
Graduate Thesis Award (PhD) - $200
University of Alberta, Department of Mechanical Engineering - Maryam Akbari for her thesis entitled “Conversion of Organic Waste to Value-added Products” (Advisor: A. Kumar)
McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering - Ward Smith for a thesis entitled “Development of hydrologic processes in the DNDC model to explore beneficial management for reducing nutrient losses from cropping systems.” (Advisor: Z. Qi)
Université Laval - Guoqi Wen for a thesis entitled “Étude des effets de la fertilisation azotée sur les concentrations foliaires en sucres, en acides aminés et en glycoalcaloïdes des plants de pommes de terre / Study of the effects of nitrogen fertilization on leaf concentrations of sugars, amino acids, and glycoalkaloids of potato plants » ( Advisors: M. Khelifi; A. Cambouris)
Graduate Thesis Award (MSc) - $200
University of Manitoba - Navjot Brar Kaur for a thesis entitled “A comparative evaluation of processing of yellow peas (Pisum sativum L.) with hot air and superheated steam” (Advisors: J. Paliwal; S. Cenkowski)
The University of Guelph - Arshdeep Singh Brar for a thesis entitled "Optimization of Foam-mat Drying process for Peaches" (Advisor: A. Singh).
The University of Guelph - Owaisuddin Fahad Mohammed for a thesis entitled "Evaluation of the effect of thermal and electrical food processing methods on almond protein structure using molecular modeling and in-vitro digestibility" (Advisor: A. Singh).
McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering - Amanda Boatswain Jacques for a thesis entitled “Development of a Machine Vision-Based Yield Monitoring System for Vegetable Crops" (Advisor: V. Adamchuk)
Dalhousie University - Hanmbal Khan for a thesis entitled “Economic Analysis of Alternative Mechanical Harvesting Systems for Wild Blueberries” (Advisors: E. Yiridoe; T. Esau)
University of Prince Edward Island, Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering - Hassan Afzaal for a thesis entitled “Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning for Sustainable Water Management in Prince Edward Island” (Advisor: A. Farooque)
Université Laval - Guillaume Sauvageau for a thesis entitled “Pratiques d’irrigation et lessivage en production de fraises en Californie/ Irrigation practices and leaching in California strawberry production” (Advisors: J. Caron; S. Pepin)
University of Saskatchewan - He Yue for a thesis entitled “Chickpea aquafaba as an emulsifierin food-oil systems” (Advisors M. Reaney; V. Meda)
Undergraduate Awards - $100
University of Manitoba - Undergraduate Design Project Laurissa Bridgeman, Trent Boschman, Sarah Harris, Georgia Loewen & Alyssa Ruta prepared a design report entitled “Motorized Joystick Mount for Power Wheelchairs”
University of Manitoba - Undergraduate Design Project - Dimitri Eckhardt and Griffin Swanson prepared a design report entitled “Maple Leaf Agri-Farms Organic Waste Management”
University of Manitoba - Undergraduate Thesis - George Dyck for a thesis entitled “Development of calibration techniques for the determination of the dielectric properties of wheat using a novel dielectric test cell” (Advisor: J. Paliwal)
McGill University, Undergraduate Thesis - Antonin Brun, Meaghan Kilmartin, Vincent Lambert-Song for a thesis entitled “Food waste fermentation” (Advisors: C. Madramootoo; V. Orsat)
McGill University – Undergraduate Design Project - Elodie Chatel, Jasmin Bibeau, Keli Trumpler for a project entitled “ Residential solar greenhouse” (Advisor: C. Madramootoo)
Dalhousie University – Undergraduate Design Project - Abigail Bonnington, Luke Macmillan, Austin Ellis for a project entitled “ Development of a Robot Equine Mucking Machine” Advisor: T. Esau)
University of Prince Edward Island - Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering - Undergraduate Design Project - Cody Rogers, Evan Hardwick, Mike Parkman, Graham Ching for a project entitled “Design effective blade for french fries - Culinary Creation Centre” (Advisors: A. Farooque; W. Simmons)
University of Prince Edward Island - Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering - Undergraduate Design Thesis - Nick Landrigan for a project entitled “Automation of the rainmaker for effective sample preparation analysis” (Advisors: W. Simmons; A. Farooque)
Université Laval - Undergraduate Design Project - William Falcon; Étienne Marineau-Bélanger; Frédérik Daigneault for a project entitled «Conception d’un planétaire pour un tracteur de 30-50 hp/ Design of a planetary for a 30-50 hp tractor transmission” (Advisor: M. Khelifi)
