Congratulations to the winners of the ABE 469 Trade Show! ABE 469: Industry-sponsored Design Project is the capstone design course for seniors in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Like so many other proceedings around the country, the trade show for this class went virtual this year. Changing course mid-semester, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, presented many challenges for the instructor, Ann-Perry Witmer, and for the teams, and we applaud their persistence and ingenuity in the face of those challenges.

Eight judges - two emeritus faculty, two current faculty, two alumni professionals and two graduate students – evaluated the video and poster presentations of 12 teams.

The winner of the Richard C. and Helen Coddington Design Team Award was The Maschhoffs LLC team: Modeling Energy Consumption of Swine Barns. Team members Kyle Bright, Anne Reardon, and Tanner Scherer worked to design a theoretical model of the liquid propane (LP) consumption of two different wean-to-market barn styles based on variable outside conditions. The tool they designed gives the Maschoffs an understanding of the impact changing barn design and management has on LP usage, and will help inform barn management decisions.

Dr. Coddington, an emeritus professor in the department, taught this course for many years, and he and his wife Helen are the generous donors for this award.

This year a new award was given, the People’s Choice Award. Voting for this award was open to the public, and more than 560 people participated. Because two of the team sponsors required non-disclosure agreements, only ten teams were judged.

The winner of the People’s Choice Award was the Mini Horse Power/Health Maker Lab team: Design of a Non-Invasive Electroencephalogram (EEG) Headset for Miniature Equine. Team members Jessica Halder and Jiawen Hu worked with Sarah Nixon and the Miniature Horse Power program to design a mobile device that will allow researchers to assess a miniature horse therapy animal’s response to humans in various emotional states.

Again, congratulations to the winners and all the participants for outstanding work done during unprecedented times!