Lyle Stephens Receives 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award

Published May 27, 2009

Lyle Stephens receives Distinguished Alumni Award

2009 Distinguished Alumni - Lyle Stephens

Lyle Stephens, MS ’68 AgE, has had a productive 31-year career as a research engineer for the Moline Technology Innovation Center, Deere and Company. He is an accomplished engineer in the application of soil dynamics to seeding, tillage and earthmoving equipment as well as the emerging area of biomass utilization. Stephens developed new tillage tool shapes and designed new crop residue management devices for seeding machines; he now holds five US and two foreign patents on seed planting technology. Stephens retired from Deer and Company in 2007. Following his retirement, he has worked with the Department of Energy, providing engineering expertise and industry experience to their research program planning.

Stephens has been an active local and national member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) since 1971. He served as Chair of the Quad City Section in 2001-2002 and national ASABE President from 2002-2003. His contributions to his profession have been recognized by four ASABE Presidential citations and his election as an ASABE Fellow in 1992.

Stephens has maintained an ongoing dialog with the Department faculty over his career and has served on the Department's Advisory Committee. He has also shown his commitment to higher education by serving as an ABET agricultural engineering program evaluator on several occasions.

The Department celebrates Lyle Stephens’ continued fellowship by recognizing him as the 2009 recipient of the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department Distinguished Alumni Award.

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