Fellow Awards
The designation "Grade of Fellow" shall have honorary status, to which members of distinction may be elected, but for which they may not apply. A Fellow shall be a member of outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience in the field of agricultural, food, and/or biological engineering, and shall have met all the requirements for the grade of member. A Fellow shall have been a member of the Society for ten years, and have twenty years of active practice in the profession.
Nomination as a Fellow may be made to the Fellows Committee by ten members in good standing. To be elected, a nominee must be unanimously approved by all members of the Fellows Committee.
Awards and Fellow status are given for outstanding contributions through work in one or more of the following:
- Design and development based on originality, practicality, and applicability; the awardee must have made the major contribution to the concepts, design or development recognized.
- Extension and management based on a record of high quality work in agricultural, food, and/or biological engineering extension such as leading in extension education through groups or T.V., or by assisting farmers in innovation of new farmstead systems or components. Alternatively, the awardee may be recognized for outstanding managerial work in the food processing industry, building firms, machinery firms, irrigation firms or land drainage.
- Teaching and/or research based on a record of good teaching involving innovation in teaching or course development, and professional and enthusiastic leadership to students. Alternatively, the Awardee may be recognized for research abilities and achievements through the development of new theoretical concepts, or the design and execution of good experiments to prove conclusively the answer to some questions of value to agricultural, food and/or biological engineering.
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.
2023 Fellow Award
Dr. Goel is a Professional Engineer and a Research Scientist at the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Ontario. He obtained his B.Tech. in Agricultural Engineering(GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, India in 1985). He holds a M.Tech. degree from IIT (Kharagpur, India in 1986). He was on Dean’s Honors List for his Ph.D. (from McGill University in 2003). He specializes in hydrology, nutrient management, watershed modeling, and climate change. He has led and participated in various projects and committees to assess the effects of agricultural practices on water quality and quantity. He has also contributed to the development of surface water vulnerability guidelines, nutrient management strategies, and integrated climate change monitoring programs.
Dr. Goel has been an active member of CSBE/SCGAB/ASABE for many years. He is currently the Regional Director of Ontario, member-at-large Nominating Committee, Director of CSBE Foundation, and member of the ASABE NRES-224 committee. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor (>17 years) and an advisory committee member at the University of Guelph, where he mentors and advises PhD and MSc students. He has been recognized with several awards, including the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks 2020-21 Recognition Award-Illuminator, CSBE/SCGAB 2019 Jim Beamish Award, Ontario Ministry of the Environment - Emerald Awards (2006), Honourable Mention for Emerald Awards (2005), and the Environmental Commissioner Recognition Award (2004). He has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers, 3 book chapters, and numerous technical reports. He has also presented his work at more than 125 conferences.
Dr Goel est ingénieur et chercheur au ministère de l'Environnement, de la Conservation et des Parcs de l'Ontario. Il a obtenu une licence en ingénierie agricole (GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, Inde en 1985). Il est titulaire d'un M.Tech. de l'IIT (Kharagpur, Inde en 1986). Il a figuré sur la liste d'honneur du doyen pour son doctorat (Université McGill, 2003). Il est spécialisé dans l'hydrologie, la gestion des nutriments, la modélisation des bassins versants et le changement climatique. Il a dirigé et participé à divers projets et comités visant à évaluer les effets des pratiques agricoles sur la qualité et la quantité de l'eau. Il a également contribué à l'élaboration de lignes directrices sur la vulnérabilité des eaux de surface, de stratégies de gestion des nutriments et de programmes intégrés de surveillance du changement climatique.
M. Goel est un membre actif de la CSBE/SCGAB/ASABE depuis de nombreuses années. Il est actuellement directeur régional de l'Ontario, membre du comité de nomination, directeur de la Fondation CSBE et membre du comité NRES-224 de l'ASABE. Il est également professeur adjoint (depuis plus de 17 ans) et membre du comité consultatif de l'Université de Guelph, où il encadre et conseille les étudiants en doctorat et en maîtrise. Il a reçu plusieurs prix, notamment le prix de reconnaissance 2020-21 du ministère de l'Environnement, de la Conservation et des Parcs de l'Ontario, le prix Jim Beamish de la CSBE/SCGAB 2019, les prix Emerald du ministère de l'Environnement de l'Ontario (2006), une mention honorable pour les prix Emerald (2005) et le prix de reconnaissance du Commissaire à l'environnement (2004). Il a publié plus de 60 articles évalués par des pairs, trois chapitres de livres et de nombreux rapports techniques. Il a également présenté ses travaux lors de plus de 125 conférences.
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.
2019 Fellow Award
Dr Venkatesh Meda is being recognized for his outstanding and significant contributions to Agricultural, Food and Biological Engineering, particularly in the areas of Post-harvest Engineering, and value-adding processing of foods. He has demonstrated leadership in the field at local, national and international levels. Apart from being a dynamic researcher, Dr. Venkatesh is also an enthusiastic scholar/educator and has trained several graduate and postdoctoral fellows. His effort has contributed in solving some of the problems related global food production, preservation and supply chain management.
Dr. Meda’s effort in establishing International collaborative research and development partnerships is well recognised, particularly through his successes through the Canadian Common Wealth Scholarships with DFATD (Foreign Affairs, Canada), EU (European Union)-ISEKI-Mundus Food Net, and ISTP (DFATD) grants. He has extensively participated in strategic discussion(s) /seminars conducted by CIDA, World Bank, Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS), food safety, ICRISAT (India) and other International rural development topics on post-harvest engineering.
Dr. Meda was awarded as ‘distinguished Professor’ by Government of India’s Center of Excellence in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (NIFTEM; 2014, 2018) for his outstanding contributions in the field of food, chemical & Biological Engineering and management/entrepreneurship. He has published at high quality journals in the related fields.
Dr. Meda’s enthusiasm continues to thrive on integrating approaches to food systems teaching, research and development activities including community level collaboration(s), ultimately addressing the global food security challenges. He has been an active CSBE member since 1998. Dr. Meda is a worthy candidate for the Grade of CSBE/SCGAB Fellow.
2019 Fellow Award
Dr. Danny Mann started this journey with an undergraduate major in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Manitoba, and he subsequently pursued graduate studies in the same department. It is worth to mention that he was the recipient of the Department Undergraduate Student Governor General’s Gold Medal. After obtaining a PhD, no other job would be as perfectly suited for Danny than a job in this engineering field. It was for this reason that he set his roots as a faculty member in the Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba. As a teacher, Danny always put students first, with learning as the prioritized objective. He has participated in more than 30 professional development activities and workshops associated with engineering education. His dedications to engineering education are demonstrated by the numerous teaching awards he received. One of the most notable events in his career was when he earned the Graduating Class Award for Excellence in Teaching. Being recognized by students is the undoubtedly most satisfaction as an educator he has felt thus far. As a researcher, Danny has been active in the field of precision agriculture and automation. As the Department Head for eight years, he successfully renewed his NSERC Discovery grants, which is most evidently demonstrated in increased levels of productivities in training HQPs and publications. As Department Head, not only is he available to answer our questions; he solves our problems. His effective leadership can be demonstrated by two facts: the significant increase in the student enrollment over the years, and the friendly working environment within the department. As an individual, Danny reflects before speaking, and handles all matters in a pleasant, respectful, and inoffensive manner. His personal qualities include being organized, punctual, responsible, calm, and most importantly, being fair and trustworthy. In light of his strong contributions, Dr. Mann is elected to the Grade of CSBE/SCGAB Fellow.
