Category Archives: Research
BAEN Capstone Teams Places Third at AGCO National Student Design Contest
Congratulations to the BAEN Capstone team “Innovative Farming Solutions” who submitted their capstone project and were chosen to present in the finals of the 2020 AGCO National Student Design Contest. The team of Madison Hodges, Ana Chen Reyes, and Jacy Gray placed third overall at this year’s annual contest. The team designed a rural greenhouse/garden in a food desert area of South Texas for the South Texas Advancement Resource (STAR) group. This is the second year in a row a BAEN team from A&M has qualified for the… Read More →
Undergraduate Summer Research Application NOW OPEN
Attention Freshmen and Sophomores…Interested in High-Impact Learning? Program dates: May 31, 2021 — July 2, 2021 Are you an undergraduate student who wants hands-on learning experiences in reuse water quality, exposure to careers in agricultural research and extension, and a pathway to graduate school? The Reuse Water Quality Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates (REEU) Program at Texas A&M University will take your academic career to the next level. Students who participate in the REEU program will have the opportunity to interact with a multidisciplinary team of extension… Read More →
BAEN-NCTM Collaboration on COVID-19
Dr. Nikolov, Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAEN) Professor and National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing (NCTM) Director, and his graduate students, Emma Foster and Laura Soto, have been collaborating with NCTM scientists to develop an optimal production and purification process for making two recombinant versions of the COVID-19 spike protein. Laura and Emma have been working since April 2020 on the development of a reliable purification process for spike proteins. The preliminary data suggest that making 50 mg of purified protein per liter of cell culture is possible with… Read More →
Focusing on Research in Departmental Honors Program
The Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering participates in the College of Engineering Honors Program, geared towards high achieving students looking for challenging course work and an opportunity to do research. Honor’s students get an opportunity to work closely with professors on research projects all while taking a variety of engineering courses that are more challenging than their non-engineering counterparts. Drs. Patti Smith and Elena Castell-Perez co-coordinate the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Honors Track and meet with honors students once a semester to guide them through coursework and… Read More →
Undergraduate Summer Research Application NOW OPEN
Roll up your sleeves. Become a researcher! Program dates: May 26, 2020 — July 31, 2020 Are you an undergraduate engineering student who wants to discover innovative solutions to problems? The Undergraduate Summer Research Grant Program (USRG) at Texas A&M University will take your academic career to the next level. USRG provides an exciting and unique opportunity for undergraduate students to immerse themselves in research under the guidance of College of Engineering faculty, postdoctoral fellows and advanced graduate students. Click here to apply!
Study suggests growth-stage-based irrigation strategies for high-yielding cotton
Cotton is sensitive to water stress at different growth stages, needing water at specific times to produce a high-yielding crop. A Texas A&M AgriLife Research study investigated the best strategies to improve irrigation water-use efficiency while maintaining high yields. “Evaluation of crop-growth-stage-based deficit irrigation strategies for cotton production in the Southern High Plains,” was authored by AgriLife Research scientists Srinivasulu Ale, Ph.D., geospatial hydrologist, and Sushil Himanshu, Ph.D., postdoctoral research associate, both in Vernon, and James Bordovsky, senior agricultural engineer, Halfway, along with and Murali Darapuneni, New Mexico… Read More →
Diversifying the Water Portfolio for Agriculture in the Rio Grande Basin
Dr. Askarali Karimov of BAEN is Co-Principal Investigator on Diversifying the Water Portfolio for Agriculture in the Rio Grande, a 4-year project with estimated budget of $5 Million based on the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2017-68007-26318. The Rio Grande extends 1,900 miles from Southern Colorado through New Mexico and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico and is the fourth longest river in the U.S. It is listed, however, as one of the world’s most endangered rivers. The Rio Grande… Read More →
AgriLife Research study: Winter wheat feasible cover crop for Rolling Plains cotton
Interest in using cover crops to improve soil health continues to grow in the Texas Rolling Plains region, but the nagging concern of reductions in soil moisture and effects on yields of subsequent cash crops still exists. A Texas A&M AgriLife Research-led team is releasing the results of a recent simulation study that builds on field research in the December issue of Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, or ASABE, journal. The paper, Simulated Effects of Winter Wheat Cover Crops on Cotton Production Systems… Read More →
Cotton gin trash finding new life for electrical power
Finding sustainable markets for gin trash, wood chips and other waste products could be viable in producing more electrical power for a growing global population, according to researchers. A demonstration was held recently on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station showcasing a biomass-fueled fluidized bed gasifier, utilizing cotton gin trash and wood chips to power an electric generator. The fluidized bed gasification system was developed in the 1980s when a patent was issued to Drs. Calvin Parnell Jr. and W.A. Lepori, who were both part… Read More →
Water quality fellowship provides hands-on learning opportunities at Texas A&M
A summer program at Texas A&M University recently provided 15 undergraduate students with fellowships in water quality to study the impacts of on-site sewage facilities on soil and water quality. The students were from Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M Florida A&M, and Kansas State universities. The two-year undergraduate program is offered by Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M universities and was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture. According to program coordinators, the goals of the Research and Extension Experiential Learning program are… Read More →