Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons^™

Developing Transparent Sustainability Data Systems In A Poultry And Pet Food Company: An Internship Case Study, Catherine L. Warren

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

My honors thesis examined my internship experiences and its implications on sustainability data gathering and reporting in poultry and pet food companies. It highlighted my internship projects, the skills I developed, and the connections to sustainability data transparency and reliability in a corporate environment.

In my thesis, I shared details about my internship. I described what projects I worked on, the places I visited, the hands-on experience I gained, and the different teams I worked with throughout the internship duration. I discussed the analytic and professional skills I developed through conducting a waste audit, developing Tableau dashboards, and helping to …

Design And Performance Overview Of The Inaugural University Of Arkansas Beng Fountain Wars Team, Autumn Jones

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This honors thesis describes the engineering design process for the first ASABE Fountain Wars submission by a student team at the University of Arkansas in over a decade. Fountain Wars has a technical and aesthetic task, and the focus of this thesis is the design of the technical task. In 2025, this task was the “shoot out.” The objective was to get objects from a small pool into two 5-gallon buckets 10-15 feet away. The power for initiating the launch had to be provided by the pump. The objects were required to start at the surface of the water.

The …

Dried Water Treatment Residuals Might Be An Option To Reduce Soluble Reactive Phosphorus Release From Soils, Katie B. Mckay

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nonpoint source pollution from agricultural landscapes contributes to freshwater eutrophication, with legacy phosphorus (P) in soils potentially driving soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) losses to surface waters. The objectives of this study were to evaluate SRP adsorption by dried water treatment residuals (WTRs) produced by Beaver Water District, quantify reductions in soil SRP release across increasing WTR application rates, and compare dried WTR performance to prior WTR studies.

Dried WTRs (~98% solids) were assessed using batch sorption experiments and soil core incubations. Phosphorus sorption was measured by mixing WTRs with CaCl₂ solutions containing increasing SRP concentrations and fitting results to …

Cross-Facility Reliable Deep Learning Based Beef Marbling Assessment Via Unsupervised Domain Adaptation Regression, Samuel Vinson

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Inconsistent quality grading in beef production leads to inefficiencies, economic disparity, and consumer mistrust. While USDA meat grading traditionally relies on skilled visual inspectors, these human evaluations suffer from cross-facility variability and subjectivity. This paper introduces the first known application of unsupervised domain adaptation regression for cross-facility beef marbling score prediction—an innovation that improves generalization across diverse environments in the beef supply chain. Utilizing numerical scores ranging from 100-900, the research employed convolutional neural networks (CNNs), including ResNet, VGG, and AlexNet architectures. The study specifically introduced and validated a unified unsupervised domain adaptation regression method using the ResNet-50 architecture to …

Uav-Based Sensor Integration For In-Situ Lake Water Quality Monitoring, Alec R. Campbell

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Surface water monitoring is often constrained by limited spatial and temporal coverage due to the labor-intensive nature of traditional sampling methods, particularly in environments that are difficult to access or pose safety risks. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer a promising solution by enabling more frequent, spatially distributed, and cost-effective data collection. This study presented the design, development, and field evaluation of a UAV-based system for real-time, in-situ water quality monitoring. The system integrated multiple sensors, including oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), RGB spectrometry, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), and a multispectral spectrometer within a UAV platform.

Field testing was conducted …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) In Cave And Withrow Springs, Arkansas, Luke A. Ahlemeier

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The class of chemicals known as Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are believed to be widespread in the natural environment, but the full extent of PFAS prevalence is not well understood, particularly in karst springs. The objectives of this study were to (1) collect water samples from Cave Springs and Withrow Springs, Northwest Arkansas, (2) measure for concentrations of 40 PFAS compounds using EPA Method 1633, and (3) compare differences in PFAS concentrations and discuss potential sources of PFAS for each spring. Each spring was sampled on September 29, 2025, October 13, 2025, and November 10, 2025, and water samples …

A Systems Approach To Nitrogen Fertilizer Management: Modeling Emissions And Runoff Pathways In Arkansas Agriculture, Avonelle Lindon

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nitrogen fertilizer management is a critical challenge in modern agriculture. This thesis develops a system dynamics model of nitrogen in Arkansas rice and corn systems to explore barriers to translating agricultural research into practical farmer guidance.  The modeling process revealed key challenges: (1) scarcity of Arkansas-specific factors and best management practice (BMP) effectiveness data; (2) tension between model comprehensiveness and accessibility; (3) misalignments in conservation incentive structures; and (4) difficulty in validating models without field measurements. The resulting model demonstrates basic nitrogen cycle processes and BMP integration, but validation against published literature revealed significant issues with predictive accuracy. These findings …

Enhancing Food Security In Stann Creek, Belize Using Meat Rabbits: Engineering Perspective, Lindsey Garretson

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the engineering perspective within the overall project of using meat rabbits to enhance food security and nutrition within Stann Creek, Belize. From the engineering perspective, the overarching goals were like the overarching project goals including the construction and materials required guide within the manual, designing potential upgrades to the design including a solar and battery system and an automatic watering system, and to design the system to be “practically sustainable” where possible. The constraints for this project included cost, the size of land dedicated for the rabbitry, and the operational and environmental …

Deep-Learning-Enhanced Automated Coherent-Light Diffraction System For High-Speed, Highly Accurate Strain-Specific Foodborne Bacterial Recognition, Yang Tian, Ziyu Liu, Yinuo Huang, Ramesh Bahadur Bist, Yiting Xiao, Samantha Marrianne Howe, Tsung Cheng Tsai, Terry Howell, Jeyam Subbiah, Michael L. Looper, Dongyi Wang

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rapid, accurate differentiation of bacterial pathogens at both species and strain levels is critical for clinical diagnostics, food safety, and epidemiological surveillance. We report a fully automated laser-diffraction platform that achieves rapid, label-free identification of bacterial pathogens at both species and strain levels. The system integrates dual cameras, an automated X-Y stage, and deep-learning classifiers to deliver sub-second, nondestructive diagnostics without reagents or culture. Using diffraction patterns from eight strains, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, K12, ATCC 25922, F18, Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria innocua, and Staphylococcus aureus, a custom YOLO11x model attained 100 % Top-1 accuracy under five-fold stratified cross-validation …

Evaluation Of Robotic Swabbing And Fluorescent Sensing To Monitor The Hygiene Of Food Contact Surfaces, Siavash Mahmoudi, Clark Griscom, Pouya Sohrabipour, Yang Tian, Chaitanya Palleria, Philip G. Crandall, Dongyi Wang

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Effective environmental monitoring is critical for preventing microbial and allergenic cross-contamination. However, manual swabbing methods, commonly used to verify hygienic conditions, are prone to inconsistent results because of variability in pressure, coverage, and techniques. Two novel solutions will be explored to address these challenges: a robotic swabbing system with tactile sensing control, and a fluorescence/absorbance spectrometer for non-contact, protein-based residue detection. The robotic system was evaluated against trained and untrained humans, measuring water pickup, surface coverage, and pressure consistency. Concurrently, the fluorescence system analyzed model poultry protein soil to correlate spectral patterns with contamination levels. The robotic system demonstrated statistically …

Quantitative Imaging Of Individual Bacterial Cells: E. Coli And B. Subtilis Via Terahertz Scattering-Type Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy, Haneol Lee, Youngil Moon, Donghyun Lee, Jinwoo Kim, Gyuseok Lee, Haewook Han

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Significance: Terahertz (THz) waves have gained significant attention as an imaging technology due to their ability to provide physical and chemical information in a label-free, noninvasive, and nonionizing manner. Notably, their low energy enables nondestructive inspection of internal structures without damaging samples, making them well-suited for biomedical applications. However, the use of THz imaging has been constrained by limited spatial resolution due to the diffraction limit. Aim: This study introduces an approach using THz scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy, an advanced technique capable of overcoming these limitations and enabling single-cell scale measurements to image and distinguish individual bacterial cells, specifically …

Conservation Management Effects On Soil And Agronomic Properties In A Furrow-Irrigated Corn System In East-Central Arkansas, Jeferson P. Pimentel, Christopher G. Henry, Kris R. Brye, Benjamin R. Runkle, Amanda J. Ashworth, Edgar Mersiovsky, Kevin C. Thompson

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cover crops can improve soil physical properties and help to sustain agricultural crop yields. A 6-year study conducted from 2017 to 2022 examined the effects of conservation soil management practices in a furrow-irrigated continuous corn (Zea mays L.) system on a silt-loam soil (Typic Albaqualf) in the Lower Mississippi River Delta region of eastern Arkansas. This study compared the effects of conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage (NT), and no-tillage with cover crops (CC) in selected soil physical and chemical properties (i.e., soil bulk density (D b), porosity (& fnof;t), field capacity (Theta FC), Permanent wilting point (Theta PWP), Plant available water …

Nutrient Dynamics In Restored And Unrestored Urban Streams In The Piedmont Ecoregion Of South Carolina, Emily J. Jordan, Debabrata Sahoo, Calvin B. Sawyer, Jeremy W. Pike, Dara M. Park, Sarah A. White, Brian E. Haggard

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The United States invests billions of dollars annually to perform stream restoration projects, yet few studies have investigated the effects this ecosystem manipulation has on nutrient cycling and associated water quality. Water quality improvement remains a substantial motivation for mitigating catchment-scale disturbances, especially in urban streams. Various urban land use practices impact the transfer and transport of nutrients such as soluble reactive phosphorus, ammonium, and nitrate plus nitrite from land into the streams and rivers. The uptake length (Sw), or the distance a dissolved nutrient travels downstream within a stream reach, can be measured using short-term nutrient injections, where shorter …

Modeling Rice Leaf Area Index And Canopy Height In The Us Mid-South Region, Ellie J. Kuhn, Beatriz Moreno-Garcia, Michele Reba, Kusum Naithani, Benjamin R. Runkle

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Crop growth modeling plays a critical role in addressing the global challenges of food scarcity, carbon cycling, and water management. By simulating crop development from environmental factors, these models help predict harvest yield and carbon or water cycle terms and thus can inform policy and investment decisions. However, for some agricultural regions, such as the US Mid-South, there is a lack of comprehensive data specific to rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars and their growing conditions. Here, we use 30 field seasons of observational data to predict leaf area index (LAI) and canopy height (Hcan), key inputs for crop growth models, for …

The Rapid Detection Of Foreign Fibers In Seed Cotton Based On Hyperspectral Band Selection And A Lightweight Neural Network, Yeqi Fei, Zhenye Li, Dongyi Wang, Chao Ni

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Contamination with foreign fibers-such as mulch films and polypropylene strands-during cotton harvesting and processing severely compromises fiber quality. The traditional detection methods often fail to identify fine impurities under visible light, while full-spectrum hyperspectral imaging (HSI) techniques-despite their effectiveness-tend to be prohibitively expensive and computationally intensive. Specifically, the vast amount of redundant spectral information in full-spectrum HSI escalates both the system's costs and processing challenges. To address these challenges, this study presents an intelligent detection framework that integrates optimized spectral band selection with a lightweight neural network. A novel hybrid Harris Hawks-Whale Optimization Operator (HWOO) is employed to isolate 12 …

Connecting Biological Engineering Education With Hands-On Internship Experience, Lindsey Bush

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

My honors thesis examines how my time in the biological engineering program and internship experience have prepared me for my future career. It highlights the skills I developed, the lessons I learned, and how these experiences shaped my job search and career decisions.

In my thesis, I share details about my internship. I described what I worked on, the places I visited, and the hands-on experience I gained. I talk about how my coursework provided a strong foundation and how my internship allowed me to apply those concepts in real-world engineering settings. I also discuss the technical and professional skills …

Critical Analysis Of Coursework And Internship Experience In Relation To Biological Engineering At The University Of Arkansas, Samantha Wheat

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

My internship allowed me to gain important experience about a possible future career path with a biological engineering degree. Not only did this experience apply knowledge learned in the classroom from classes taken, I was also able to use my critical thinking skills gained from biological engineering coursework and teaching style to learn new skills and efficiently complete tasks given to me. This internship allowed me to try out a possible career path that interested me, and through my internship experience I was able to learn more about what kind of career path I was interested in after graduation. Additionally, …

Effects Of Sensor Separation On Flux Calculations In The Eddy Covariance Method., Maria D. Vergara Murillo

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Rice production contributes approximately 8% of global anthropogenic methane emissions. Methane (CH₄) is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 28 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO₂) which makes it important to monitor for understanding and mitigating its contribution to climate change. The Eddy Covariance (EC) method is used to monitor greenhouse gas emissions such as CO₂, CH₄, etc. As part of the EC method, the instruments on the EC towers are used to record the gas concentrations in the atmosphere; these concentrations are then run in the EddyPro software …

Cost-Effective Active Laser Scanning System For Depth-Aware Deep-Learning-Based Instance Segmentation In Poultry Processing, Pouya Sohrabipour, Chaitanya Palleria, Amirreza Davar, Siavash Mahmoudi, Philip G. Crandall, Wan Shou, Yu She, Dongyi Wang

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The poultry industry plays a pivotal role in global agriculture, with poultry serving as a major source of protein and contributing significantly to economic growth. However, the sector faces challenges associated with labor-intensive tasks that are repetitive and physically demanding. Automation has emerged as a critical solution to enhance operational efficiency and improve working conditions. Specifically, robotic manipulation and handling of objects is becoming ubiquitous in factories. However, challenges exist to precisely identify and guide a robot to handle a pile of objects with similar textures and colors. This paper focuses on the development of a vision system for a …

Insights From Consumers' Exposure To Environmental Nutrition Information On A Dashboard For Improving Sustainable Healthy Food Choices, Prince Agyemang, Ebenezer M. Kwofie, Jamie L. Baum, Dongyi Wang

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Over the last decade, there has been a growing demand for tools to support sustainable healthy lifestyles, including food choices. Through a survey, this study examined the influence of environmental nutrition information conveyed with aids such as nudges and traffic light labels through a Dashboard for Improving Sustainable Healthy (DISH v1.0) food choices on consumer purchase intentions. DISH is an application that enables end-users to envisage and compare the potential impacts of their choices before purchasing. In the early stage of the technological development of DISH, the environmental nutrition information of two fast-food menus, plant-based and animal-based burgers, was tested …

Economic Impact Of Energy Accounting Schemes For Commercial Systems On A Broiler Farm With Power Demand And Generation, Yi Liang, Michael Popp

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the on-farm solar photovoltaic (PV) generation to offset grid electricity consumption on a commercial poultry farm in the US. Hourly electricity production by PV systems was estimated using the System Advisor Model (SAM) of the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and compared with the estimated electric load demand of a broiler house. We analyzed the economic benefits of installing solar systems of three capacities under net energy metering and net energy billing pricing scenarios. Results suggested that a smaller PV installation of 35 kWp, while substantially short of meeting …

Environmental-Health Convergence: A Deep Learning-Oriented Decision Support System For Catalyzing Sustainable Healthy Food Systems, Prince Agyemang, Ebenezer M. Kwofie, Jamie I. Baum, Dongyi Wang, Emmanuel A. Kwofie

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

To generate evidence to address food system challenges, we developed an adaptable framework for multimodel assessment of the convergence effect of health and environmental drivers in food systems. We achieved this goal by developing a modeling framework that facilitates testing and applying four deep-learning algorithms using a case study of the United States's food system. Among the models tested, the bidirectional and single-layer long short-term memory models outperformed the others with α_E(2.75) and α_H(3.51) when predicting environmental drivers and health drivers, respectively. All the models tested performed better at predicting environmental than health drivers. The best-performing …

Unlocking The Phosphorus Circularity Potential Of Corn Belt Watersheds With Biorefinery Phosphorus Recovery Incentives, Kenneth Ruffatto, Arghajeet Saha, Rebecca L. Muenich, Andrew J. Margenot, Roland D. Cusick

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

As global phosphorus (P) stores rapidly decline, P fed algal blooms continue to threaten critical freshwater resources across the globe. In the Midwestern United States (US), particularly the Corn Belt, biorefineries could play a key role in addressing this issue. By recovering P from the byproducts of ethanol production these facilities could reduce the P content of distillers grain feed, thereby reducing P excreted in manures. This process could potentially divert P away from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and toward renewable P (rP) fertilizer production utilizing the recovered P. To foster the inclusion of P recovery incentives in state …

New Insights Into Fertilisation With Animal Manure For Annual Double-Cropping Systems In Nitrate-Vulnerable Zones Of Northeastern Spain, Dolores Quilez, Monica Guillen, Marta Valles, Arturo Dauden, Beatriz Moreno-Garcia

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Maize double-cropping production systems in Mediterranean areas have a great nitrogen extraction capacity and high nitrogen (N) requirements. This study aims to assess whether in these farming systems, animal manure can be applied, using adequate management practices, at levels exceeding the maximum annual amount of livestock manure established in the European Nitrate Directive for vulnerable zones (170 kg N ha-1) without increasing the risk of water nitrate contamination. We compare the risk of nitrate leaching under two fertilisation strategies, one with synthetic fertilisers and the second with a maximised application of pig slurry, exceeding the limits of the EU Nitrate …

Sustainable Poultry Farming Practices: A Critical Review Of Current Strategies And Future Prospects, Ramesh Bahadur Bist, Keshav Bist, Sandesh Poudel, Deepak Subedi, Xiao Yang, Bidur Paneru, Sudhagar Mani, Dongyi Wang, Lilong Chai

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

As global demand for poultry products, environmental sustainability, and health consciousness rises with time, the poultry industry faces both substantial challenges and new opportunities. Therefore, this review paper provides a comprehensive overview of sustainable poultry farming, focusing on integrating genetic improvements, alternative feed, precision technologies, waste management, and biotechnological innovations. Together, these strategies aim to minimize ecological footprints, uphold ethical standards, improve economic feasibility, and enhance industry resilience. In addition, this review paper explores various sustainable strategies, including eco-conscious organic farming practices and innovative feed sources like insect-based proteins, single-cell proteins, algal supplements, and food waste utilization. …

White Hall Green Roof Proposal, Hope Dwyer

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project will propose designs for a GR system while determining the potential cost, the feasibility of the system implementation, as well as potential psychological and educational benefits of a GR system. These factors will be examined and evaluated with regard to two different proposed GR designs: extensive and intensive.

Neural Network Architecture Search Enabled Wide-Deep Learning (Nas-Wd) Integrated Hyperspectral Imaging Understanding For Woody Breast In Poultry Processing, Chaitanya Kumar Reddy Pallerla

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development and implementation of a Wide & Deep (WD) learning model tailored for classification and regression tasks utilizing spectral data provides a robust solution to evaluate woody breast (WB) conditions in poultry fillets. This process begins with thorough data preprocessing, which includes loading spectral and classification datasets, imputing missing values with medians, and splitting the data into training and testing sets to ensure rigorous model evaluation. The WD model architecture integrates wide linear models and deep neural networks to harness the strengths of both approaches. The wide component excels at memorizing sparse feature interactions, while the deep component captures …

Integrating Sustainability And Food Safety Through Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment And Life Cycle Assessment Of Low-Moisture Foods, Jessica Bain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Food safety and sustainability are critical concerns in the food industry. However, these areas are often evaluated separately, leading to an incomplete understanding of the overall impact of food production on human health. This dissertation aims to integrate food safety with sustainability to provide a comprehensive assessment of the impact of low-moisture foods on human health, using the almond processing supply chain as a case study.

In addition to conducting life cycle assessments (LCA) of almond processing, wheat flour production, and dried apple processing, this dissertation aims to create a framework to bridge the gap between sustainability and food safety. …

Compact Solar-Powered Plasma Water Generator: Enhanced Germination Of Aged Seed With The Corona Dielectric Barrier Discharger, Yiting Xiao, Yang Tian, Haizheng Xiong, Ainong Shi, Jun Zhu

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seed aging adversely affects agricultural productivity by reducing germination rates and seedling vigor, leading to significant costs for seed banks and companies due to the need for frequent seed renewals. This study demonstrated the use of plasma-activated water (PAW), generated by a solar-powered corona dielectric barrier discharger, to enhance germination rates of spinach seeds that had been stored at 4 °C for 23 years. Treating seeds with PAW at 17 kV for 15 min improved germination (by 135%) and seedling growth compared to untreated seeds. Through detailed analysis, beneficial PAW properties for seed development were identified, and a molecular mechanism …

Effective Nutrient Management Of Surface Waters In The United States Requires Expanded Water Quality Monitoring In Agriculturally Intensive Areas, Christopher Oates, Hactor Fajardo, Khara Grieger, Daniel Obenaur, Rebecca Muenich, Natalie G. Nelson

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The U.S. Clean Water Act is believed to have driven widespread decreases in pollutants from point sources and developed areas, but has not substantially affected nutrient pollution from agriculture. Today, the highest nutrient concentrations in surface waters are often associated with agricultural production. In this Perspective, we explore whether challenges stemming from the Clean Water Act’s inability to mitigate agricultural nutrient pollution are also exacerbated by coarse nutrient monitoring. We evaluate the current state of nutrient monitoring in surface waters of the contiguous U.S. relative to agricultural nutrient inputs to assess how monitoring effort varies across agriculturally intensive areas. The …