From the Executive Director
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The 2024 Annual International Meeting (AIM), held in Anaheim this past July, was memorable for me. Yes, it’s where I formally announced my plans to retire; however, it was also by far the most youthful and diverse ASABE AIM I’ve witnessed. Of the 1,651 total attendees, 451 were first-time attendees and 615 were graduate students. Nearly 30 countries were represented, and South Korea, at 54, had the highest participation outside North America. My AIM highlights included a successful sequel of the CBS Day, the 2024 Fellows installation ceremony (with four women), an awesome Fountain Wars competition, well-attended technical sessions, and a high level of energy palpable everywhere you went. President Dana Porter completed her busy and productive year and passed the gavel to Doug Otto.
President Otto has hit the ground running and created an ASABE Lead podcast to introduce himself. Be sure to listen to Doug’s and the other excellent ASABE podcasts. Doug went on to hold a virtual Town Hall session in which he shared his thoughts about his presidency and fielded questions from the 100+ member participants. You can catch Doug’s Town Hall session by scrolling down on the ASABE homepage.
Lastly, if you have not perused the latest issue of Resource magazine, I strongly encourage you to do so. Every three years we publish the "Discover" special issue showcasing recent ABE graduates and how they are making a difference and changing the world. Of the 19 individuals featured in this issue, nine are women. I’m especially proud of the increased diversity, not only in "Discover," but with what we are experiencing in most ASABE activities.
Darrin J. Drollinger
Executive Director
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SOCIETY GOVERNANCE
Lend Your Expertise to Society Finance Committee
Your experience and interest in setting and analyzing budgets could have valuable and lasting impact on the financial health of the Society.
E-20, the Society's Finance committee, is looking for a few members to assist with its mission to provide general fiscal oversight of the operating and reserve funds of the Society while maintaining good stewardship of resources. Terms are for five years, with the ability to commit to preparation and participation in three meetings per year.
Interested? Learn more about the committee's scope of work and the expectations of its members, and contact Joann McQuone (269-932-7022) with questions.
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January 11-17, 2026
Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
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ASABE is pleased to announce the call for abstracts for the Global Symposium on Sustainable Microirrigation Advances: Drop to Boom, to be held
January 11-17, 2026, at the Punta Borinquen Resort in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. |
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Share your expertise at this specialty conference by submitting an abstract before the deadline of February 15, 2025. The submission portal is now open. The symposium invites research on five main themes:
- Challenges to Sustaining Microirrigation into the Future
- Technological Advancements in Microirrigation Systems
- Role of Microirrigation Systems in Land, Water, Energy, & Food Security
- Stakeholder & Community Engagement & Education Microirrigation Design, Innovations
- New Techniques for Increased Crop Productivity
The expanded list of themes is available in the symposium brochure. Bookmark the symposium website where updates will be posted for full schedule details, registration, sponsorship options, and more.
This symposium is supported by ASABE Initiative Funds.
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Expand Your Perspective,
Grow Your Impact
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ISO Committees Hold Plenary Meetings in Milwaukee
Facilitated by ASABE staff, ISO TC23 subcommittees 2, 3, and 4 held their annual plenary meetings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The subcommittees—on tractors, testing, and safety—spent several days in hybrid meetings with attendees from across the globe.
We extend our appreciation to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, who hosted the meetings.
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Contribute to Our Open-Resource Textbook
 Consider sharing your expertise with emerging engineers by contributing to our digital textbook on biosystems engineering.
In January 2021, Introduction to Biosystems Engineering was published jointly by ASABE and Virginia Tech Publishing as an open educational resource. Individual chapters and the compilation of 23 chapters are available for free download; the hard copy can be purchased at cost.
As of September 2024, the compilation of chapters has been downloaded over 57,700 times, while individual chapters have been downloaded from 890 to 11,700 times!
The download demand, combined with positive instructor feedback, means it's time to grow.
From the outset, the editors’ plan has been to expand the number and topics of chapters available. The inaugural chapters are aligned with six of the ASABE technical communities, but we encourage contributions across the full scope of technical communities. As with the initial publications, when a new chapter is published, it will be available online for free chapter download, and when 20 to 25 new chapters have been published, a compilation of those chapters will be made available for free download and hard copy purchase.
Please take a look at the chapters that have been published. You will see that writing a chapter based on your expertise is not that difficult or time consuming! Details are available on the ASABE website, including how to contribute a chapter, along with complete Chapter Instructions for Authors.
Contact the editors to ask questions or to initiate your contribution to this valuable work.
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RESOURCE MAGAZINE
Enjoy—and Share!—the "Discover" Issue
 The September/October Special Issue of Resource invites you to discover careers in agricultural and biological engineering.
From research and fieldwork to building academic programs, spearheading international organizations and focusing on environmental quality, there really is no limit to the vast and varied opportunities available with an ag/bio degree! Get inspired by our featured graduates while also learning more about these exciting and ever-evolving fields of study.
Sharing is caring
As an ASABE member, you are the profession's best ambassador. Direct the educators and aspiring engineers in your life to the online publication. And if you participate in STEM events and would like a few hard copies to share, contact Dolores Landeck.
Visual Challenge: Your Photos Tell the Story
 It's innovative. It's transformative. It's beautiful. Agricultural and biological engineering is many things, all of which can be captured with your camera lens.
Join us in our annual Visual Challenge and help us showcase the world of agricultural and biological engineering. It's an excellent opportunity for you to share and celebrate your work, research, or technical community. Get creative with your camera, and submit as many entries as you think are compelling!
Submit your photos to Resource Managing Editor Melissa Miller by November 1, 2024. Make sure your submissions are original and have a resolution of 300 dpi or higher. Include a title and brief description for each image. If needed, add a name for image credit and assure us you have permission to submit and possibly publish the image. The cream of the crop will be picked by our ASABE team and featured in our January/February 2025 Resource issue. We’re excited to see your contributions! Don’t forget to check out previous winning entries to get inspired.
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ASABE JOURNALS
Call for Papers: Contribute to Our Special Collections
We invite you to contribute to our scholarly community by submitting manuscripts to our new all open access Journal of Natural Resources and Agricultural Ecosystems and our other hybrid journals. Please note the due dates for these special collections:
12/30/2024 Climate Change Impacts on Natural Resource and Agricultural Systems
12/31/2024 Regenerative Agriculture
11/1/2025 Sustainable Groundwater in Agriculture
Just follow our step-by-step submission instructions. Consider also our special collections, manuscripts for which are due at the end of December.
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Submit Your AIM Paper by October 1 to Enjoy a Publishing Discount
Further develop your 2024 AIM non-refereed presentation into a high-quality peer reviewed manuscript. Submit to the ASABE journals and receive a page charge discount of $100 or 10%, if over 10 pages for the final layout. You must be registered for the annual meeting, present your work at the AIM, and submit your manuscript to Scholar One by tomorrow, October 1, 2024.
Note that all manuscripts must go through our high-quality review process to be published in the ASABE journals.
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New from ASABE Publications
Open Access Articles, Special Collection Articles, New Journal Issues
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Major Awards Nominations Continue
Nominations for our major awards are now open and will continue through October. All details and a complete list of ASABE Major Awards can be found online.
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Student Recognitions
Students! Apply for CNH Scholarship, Major Awards
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The CNH Industrial Undergraduate Scholarship awards four scholarships of $2,500 each and is open to all ASABE undergrad members in the US and Canada.
Application deadline is October 31.
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Jaden Tatum, right, winner of 2024 Global Learning Award
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MEMBER EVENTS
SECTION AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES
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KNOW YOUR BENEFITS
Our Training Videos Ease You into Committee Work
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Are you a member of a technical committee or community? Trying to utilize the full slate of tools our communications platform, Engage, has to offer? Check out our FAQs and video tutorials to learn the ins-and-outs of Engage.
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Career Opportunity: Jefferson Science Fellowships
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is pleased to announce a call for applications for the 2025 Jefferson Science Fellowships. Established by the Secretary of State in 2003, these fellowships engage the American academic science, technology, engineering, and medical communities in U.S. foreign policy and international development.
Fellowships are open to tenured, or similarly ranked, faculty from U.S. institutions of higher learning who are U.S. citizens.
After successfully obtaining a security clearance, Fellows will spend one year on assignment at the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) serving as advisers on issues of foreign policy and international development.
Applications will be accepted from August 1 through October 15, 2024, at 5 pm eastern.
Learn more
The JSFs are administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and supported by the U.S. Department of State and USAID.
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Free NASEM Workshop on Workplace Burnout
Burnout has become almost ubiquitous in discussions of stress and strain in the modern workplace. Symptoms of burnout, like depression, anxiety, and greater challenges at work are prevalent across the U.S. workforce and particularly in STEMM fields. And while burnout impacts all people, its impact is disproportionately on more marginalized groups, such as women and people of color. Understanding burnout and how to address its impact on individuals and work is crucial to supporting a strong STEMM workforce and advancing equity.
Join NASEM on October 1 and 2 for a workshop that will unpack these key themes and provide insight into actionable interventions.
Learn more
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Terry A. Howell, Sr.
 ASABE Fellow Terry Allen Howell, Sr., 77, passed away on September 12, 2024 in Cedar Park, Texas.
A native of Edgewood, Texas, Howell enrolled at Texas A&M University, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees and, in 1974, his PhD. His dedication and loyalty to Texas A&M University were unwavering—he bled maroon. He was proud to have been a member of the Corps of Cadets and proud to be an agricultural engineer (a true Ag E). He considered Scoates Hall (the ag engineering building on campus) the epitome of architectural beauty. He followed all Aggie sporting events and had strong opinions on most things happening on campus. He was known to send emails and letters to university administrators sharing his ideas for preserving and building his beloved institution. His wardrobe was filled with Aggie t-shirts, hats, and accessories for every occasion. He loved buying and gifting books from Texas A&M University Press.
Howell worked for over 35 years with the USDA Agricultural Research Service as a research engineer and then laboratory director. He set out to not only be a good engineer, but to be a difference-making engineer. He dedicated his research to understanding the relationship between crops and water, preserving the water used in irrigation towards maximizing agricultural productivity needed to feed, fuel, and clothe the world. He was known around the globe for his ideas and accomplishments in water resources engineering. His work was vital, and remains vital, in helping our world sustainably provide food and fiber for humankind.
Howell served ASABE as a 55-year member and was elected a Fellow in 1992. He was awarded the John Deere Gold Medal in 2008. He was also a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Agronomy, and the Soil Science Association. He was the Irrigation Association’s person of the year in 1995. He was recognized as a Distinguished Former Student by the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2014 and as an outstanding alumnus in 2019. Perhaps his proudest professional accomplishment was being named to the USDA ARS Science Hall of Fame in 2017. He authored or co-authored nearly 400 academic publications. Moreover, Howell was a beloved colleague, mentor, and leader to many. He built friendships and collaborated with other scientists around the world. He truly loved his professional community and was so humbled by their mutual respect for him and their impact on his life.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Sue, and his three children, who include ASABE Past President Terry Howell, Jr. A memorial service was held September 20, in Cedar Park, Texas.
Memorials may be made to: Dr. Terry A. Howell, Sr. Agriculture Scholarship, West Texas A&M University; New Hope First Baptist Church; and the Texas A&M Foundation.
Full obituary
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