A wide diversity of topics allows graduate students in the ABE department to delve into areas of cutting-edge research, with many chosing projects incorporating international opportunities. Students work closely with faculty advisors in their chosen their areas of interest to define and develop their proposals. The following are examples of current graduate student research.
Ahmet Erdem Altunbas - M.E. Program
Project Title: Evaluation of Shallow Groundwater Contribution to Soil Water in the Vadose Zone of a Very Gravely Loam Soil in South Florida
Specialization: Radio Frequency I.D. (RFID)
Advisor: Dr. Jean-Pierre Emond
The Center for Food Distribution and Retailing (CFDR) is actively involved in research involving Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and according to Ahmet Altunbas, the area he is pursuing will further enhance this field.
"As a result of the on-going projects in the CFDR, we thought that a wearable RFID reader with custom antenna would be a good solution for the industry," he explained.
Wearable RFID readers can be used in every package handling process in real-world applications. Wearable readers with better antenna designs will be preferred in the industry because of their efficiency in the process.
"The most interesting aspect of this research is working on the RFID technology which improves every day and will become a part of our life in the near future," he said. "Being a part of this knowledge is the most exciting part of this project."
Cecilia Amador - Ph.D. Program
Project Title: Development of a RFID Temperature Tracking System in the Pineapple Supply Chain
Specialization: Post-Harvest Management
Advisor: Dr. Jean-Pierre Emond
As a graduate student from Peru, Cecilia Amador wanted to choose a project that would have a positive impact on her country and she was fortunate enough to find that in the ABE graduate program.
"I was interested in postharvest management because it is a major aspect for the economic future of my country. Peru has been developing its agricultural exports industry in the last decade or so, and now has the opportunity to become a major supplying country. However, the lack of expertise in postharvest issues sets us behind in the international market," she explains. "I came to Florida with the intention of learning about this field, and was lucky enough to meet a professor with expertise in the perishables' supply chain who had a project related to new technologies for temperature management during produce transportation."
For Cecilia the most rewarding aspect of the project is generating new technology, designed over the basis of real-life situations that is fully applicable in the industry.
"For me, research has not accomplished its main purpose if the benefits haven't been applied for the welfare of mankind," she says. "By improving produce cold chains we increase the returns for the suppliers and the retailers, we ensure the quality of the products purchased by the consumers, and we reduce the waste in packaging, energy and labor due to the loss of product because of bad temperature management along the supply chain."
According to Cecilia her findings will be used along the pineapple supply chains of produce companies. They will be able to detect which product has been temperature abused (and therefore, more prone to quality problems) and make logistic decisions based on the knowledge given and the remaining shelf-life of the product. They will also be able to control their loads remotely and improve their cold chains by taking corrective measures during the transportation process, be it at sea or on land
Luis Barquin-Valle - M.S. Program
Project Title: Evaluation of Shallow Groundwater Contribution to Soil Water in the Vadose Zone of a Very Gravely Loam Soil in South Florida
Specialization: Soil Capillary Rise
Advisor: Dr. Kati Migliaccio
The agricultural land of South Florida serves as a buffer between the urban development and the wetland conservation. According to Luis Barquin-Valle, recent studies in Marl and Krome soils of South Florida indicated that the shallow groundwater table may contribute significantly to plant water needs. Further research is needed to quantify this phenomenon and thereby improving irrigation practices without affecting the crop’s yield.
"If the capillarity contribution is confirmed, development of an accurate and affordable tool to assess the irrigation requirements though the water table depth will be the next challenge to develop a sustainable BMP," he explained."My project will consist of implementing soil moisture sensor technology to assess capillary rise in a tropical fruit planting in Miami-Dade County very gravely loam soils."
The results from this project will improve the efficiency of irrigation practices. Therefore, including shallow groundwater contribution to a crop’s water demand may lead to reduced irrigation and energy use without affecting crop yield and reducing potentially agrochemical losses from leaching.
"One of the most interesting challenges is to understand the complexity of groundwater capillarity by interpreting soil moisture data during days without rain events," notes Luis."This field approach can contribute to understanding the influence of shallow groundwater capillary fringe on the soil water dynamics."
Project Title: Soil Amendments for Increased Infiltration and Water Quality Improvement
Specialization: Low-Impact Development
Advisor: Dr. Michael Dukes
Eban chose a project that addresses a growing problem in Florida. As more and more land changes from commercial or undeveloped to residential it has increased water runoff and reduced water quality. The result is often soil compaction, which further increases runoff.
"In agricultural settings, incorporation of soil amendments has been shown to improve infiltration while not leaching pollutants into the groundwater," explains Eban.
A common practice for reducing runoff from developments is a retention pond or infiltration basin. By law, these structures must infiltrate their stored water within 72 hours, however it is unclear whether this is maintained for the life of the structure. This study will also include monitoring and testing retention pond infiltration times and soil properties. Sedimentation and compaction can greatly decrease infiltration rates. Amending these soils in retention ponds could improve infiltration and bring them into compliance.
"The most interesting part of this project is the sustainability side," said Eban. "The two soil amendments are compost and fly ash. Compost is typically produced from a waste product, while fly ash is a byproduct of coal burning power plants. Fly ash would typically be land filled, as would the compost parent material. This study would find a use for these wastes, while also improving water quality."
Eban explains that developers may be able to use these soil amendments to mitigate compaction during the construction process of commercial and residential areas. Additionally, the monitoring of retention pond performance could lead to revisions of regulations to ensure compliance with future structures. Soil amendments may be a method for improving retention pond performance.
"It's satisfying for me that I get to work on a project that can not only improve water quality of our lakes and streams, but also ground water from where our supply comes, which makes me feel that I am contributing to everyone," he notes.
Project Title: Comparison of Freestall Bedding Materials and Their Effects on Cow Behavior and Cow Health
Specialization: Livestock Structures and Environmental Controls
Advisor: Dr. Ray Bucklin
Rachael Boone just happened to be in the right place at the right time. She learned of her project while attending a committee meeting along with an extension agent from the University of Florida department of Animal Science. He was looking for a student who was interested not only in the health of the dairy cow, but also interested in the interaction between the environment and the animal.
"I have become involved not only with the engineering aspect of my project but also with the animal science aspect. On a daily basis I interact with scientists and engineers," explains Rachael. "This is ideal for a person, like myself, who is interested in the environmental controls of agricultural structures."
Since maintaining an ideal environment for dairy cattle is so important in order to produce sufficient amounts of milk the issue of freestall comfort is paramount.
"This research will enable farmers to understand if sand bedded freestalls are indeed the most comfortable and healthy for the cows as opposed to the new technology of water bed coverings," notes Rachael.
Anna Cathey - IGERT Ph.D. Program
Project Title: Incorporating Uncertainty into Adaptive, Transboundary Water Challenges in the Okavango Basin
Specialization: Hydrologic Modeling
Advisor: Dr. Rafael Muñoz-Carpena
It's a long way from Gainesville to Southern Africa but Anna Cathey lost no time in heading to Botswana to begin her research. Her project is a result of collaboration through the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department and the NSF funded IGERT program, “Adaptive Management of Water, Wetlands, and Watersheds.” .
"Through the IGERT program I was able to travel to the Okavango Delta in my first summer at the University of Florida and met with engineers and scientists who are interested in the hydrology and ecology in the area, " explains Anna. "This project development occurred because of a combination of my background in hydrologic modeling, the knowledge and connections that I gained while traveling in the Okavango Delta, Dr. Rafael Muñoz-Carpena’s interest in uncertainty analysis, and Dr. Greg Kiker’s interest in Adaptive Management."
The implications of this work will be a beginning-to-end integration of data, models, and analysis tools, and decision analysis methods. This design will systematically incorporate uncertainty into the understanding of the risks in the basin and impart complex management concepts such as uncertainty to stakeholders in a clear and understandable manner. Anna will next travel to southern Africa to further develop project ideas, make connections with academics who have similar interests, and data mining.
"The most interesting aspect of this project is the collaboration with academics from around the world," says Anna." This project will build on modeling work that others have done in southern Africa using specific strengths that are available here in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering."
Melissa Crowder - Ph.D. Program
Project Title: The effects of aging on noise levels of agricultural tractors
Specialization: Agricultural Tractor Noise
Advisor: Dr. Carol Lehtola
In her job as an environmental, health and safety coordinator for the University of Florida, Melissa travels to the off-campus IFAS research centers. She's well aware of the fact that farmers and agricultural workers have significant exposures to noise from many different sources. One of those sources is tractors.
"The research education centers throughout Florida have approximately 200 tractors of 15 different makes with varying years and models," explains Melissa. "Having access to the sound level equipment and tractors at the centers in my current work situation makes this an ideal project without funding to complete this research."
The majority of tractors when they are new are tested by The Nebraska Tractor Test Lab for noise level. The work that has been done in this field are noise measurements of new tractors of various models. There have been noise measurement studies of tractors and how their noise levels harm farmers’ hearing. There have been studies on how tractors with cabs have lower levels of noise than tractors without cabs.
"There are no studies comparing noise levels of new tractors and a follow-up later in time of how that noise level changes with age and wear, usage and maintenance," notes Melissa. "Measurements will be taken in this study to see how these noise levels change and to fill this gap in data."
Melissa says that there are several objectives of the study that interest her, including determining if tractors become louder as they age; if there are significant differences between tractor models noise levels; if older model tractors are louder than newer tractors and also determining a rate at which tractors become louder over time.
Project Title: Development of Ontology-based simulation and application to Citrus Water Management System(CWMS)
Specialization: Information Technology
Advisor: Dr. Howard Beck
During the past several years, Yunchul Jung and his advisor, Dr.Howard Beck, have conducted research on developing a new approach to ontology-based simulation in agricultural domain problems. The first simulation model was the citrus water and nutrient management model, which was a three year project.
"In an agricultural domain, there are many modeling methods and tools, but they are considered a big burden to those who are not familiar with programming or modeling techniques," explains Jung. "We focused on creating a mathematical expression-based modeling tool, which will support automatically generating a simulation program."
They also developed ontology techniques to support the storage/reuse of valuable information on modeling and simulation, and finally got the Simulation Editor which is an ontology-based simulation system.
"We developed the CWMS model successfully, and found that the ontology-based simulation approach is useful for modelers," notes Jung. "Currently, it is used for two more modeling projects, tomato modeling and phosphorous dynamics modeling, and we expect good results from them. We have a plan to expand its use to more general models in agricultural areas which can support the community with a reusable model database."
Project Title: Monitoring and modeling soil moisture and soil water salinity in the forested floodplain of the Loxahatchee River
Specialization: Land and Water Resources Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Rafael Muñoz-Carpena
When David joined the ABE graduate program he spent some time determining the type of research project that most interested him.
"I was lucky enough to have a stipend that wasn't tied to a particular project, so I had the flexibility to look around for a project that focused on my specific interests--wetlands and hydrology," he said. "I was able to continue a project studying the effects of saltwater intrusion on bald cypress swamps previously started by one of my lab mates."
David's is able to see a direct result of his work in land and water resources engineering and finds that to be one of the most important aspects of his project.
"I find it very exciting that the work we are doing on the Loxahatchee is used directly by the agencies that decide how to best manage and restore the River," he explained. "The field work, though dirty and tiring, is also gratifying because I get to spend time in such beautiful natural areas, observing the plants, animals, water, soil, and cycles that the ecosystem goes through over the seasons."
Project Title: Development of a Model to Predict Spray Deposition in Air-Assisted Sprayer Applications
Specialization: Spray Application Technologies
Advisor: Dr. Masoud Salyani
The selection of Peter Larbi's project is the result of a search by the Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) of the University of Florida “for a suitably qualified Ph.D. student to conduct research in spray application technologies”. The student could conduct research in one of five areas, depending on his/her academic background and research interest. This project falls under the category, “development of spray model or expert system”.
Deposition of spray material on the intended target is the prime objective of spray applications, whether of pesticides, fertilizers, or abscission chemicals. Unfortunately, spray applications are somewhat ineffective, being faced with drift losses. Many factors are involved and their interaction is a complex phenomenon. These factors would be incorporated in the model development.
"Apart from coming up with a working mathematical model as a tool for predicting spray deposition, I am excited about the learning process involved in developing a computer simulation software and an expert system, " said Peter. "My excitement is particularly based on the fact that these tools are at the cutting edge in agriculture and agricultural research in our time."
According to Peter, the resulting tool from this research would be used as a management decision support tool, to assist in planning and implementing air-assisted agrochemical spray applications in citrus and other fruit crop production.
"With a user-friendly graphic interface, the system would be useful for planning at all levels," he explained.
Project Title: Development of a spatially distributed phosphorus water quality model for variable-density conditions in the southern Everglades
Specialization: Hydrologic Modeling
Advisor: Dr. Rafael Muñoz-Carpena
In addition to developing a fundamental tool with enormous potential for application in many areas of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, Stuart Muller finds that he is most excited about the cutting-edge aspect of the project.
A grant for the original project to develop a preliminary water quality model was obtained by his advisor, Dr. Rafael Muñoz-Carpena.
"That phase has since been completed and I have identified that the water quality model developed needs to be coupled with a variable density hydrodynamic model for the unique hydrologic conditions in the southern Everglades," explains Stuart.
The resultant tool from this research will be directly applied in the Everglades restoration effort, allowing spatially distributed simulations of phosphorus water quality to be integrated into the development of management scenarios. The tool is highly adaptable, and holds great promise for application to other nutrients that are important to Everglades restoration.
Project Title: Integrating emerging technologies to enhance the biodiesel process: ultrasonication, bio-gasification of glycerol co-product, solar thermal heating and alternative feedstocks
Specialization: Waste Bioprocessing
Advisor: Dr. Pratap Pullammanappillil
Most people don’t head to the kitchen when it’s time to fill up the gas tank, but that’s exactly where Doug Renk finds the fuel to help run the UF campus fleet.
“I get most excited about the idea of taking a waste product, namely our campus used fryer oil, and refining it to biodiesel for use in our service fleet,” explains Doug.
“I enjoy the learning about what makes things move, so I chose a field that addresses transportation and energy concerns. With my project I saw a need and an opportunity as well as potential funding for continued research on process optimization for renewable biofuels, which are often misunderstood. I’m challenged to help develop ethical options to energy management and to be part of the solution to climate change and food supply shortages.”
Doug notes that his project overlaps with so many disciplines that it allows him to interact with experts in chemical engineering, microbiology, industrial process, business and energy management to name a few.
“I especially like the liberty I’m given to explore my passion of renewable energy while helping build a program that reaches out to the greater community,” he says.
According to Doug the research has vast implications for the biodiesel industry. The glycerin co-product is an ever-mounting concern, which we hope to demonstrate how it can be converted to a natural gas substitute to provide needed electrical energy and process heat. Producers and sponsors are interested in seeing the results of our innovative inputs to the chemical process in hopes of gaining an edge in the market.