Ayden Kemp, 2024 KK Barnes Student Paper Award
How have the ASABE competitions you competed in helped you in the real world?
I competed in the KK Barnes Student Paper Award competition. The paper I wrote for the competition served as the basis for a peer-reviewed journal publication* that I published later that year. Technical communication skills are invaluable for engineers and all of the ASABE competitions include elements of either written communication, oral communication, or both. Becoming a proficicent communicator has helped me win awards, get internships, and get accepted into graduate school.
Was this your first time attending ASABE's Annual International Meeting? Why or why not would you recommend that other students attend?
Yes this was my first time attending AIM. It was a great experience to connect with students and faculty from other schools as well as industry professionals who are pursuing similar interests to me. I was able to network to find potential internship opportunities and learn about new emerging technologies and fields within agricultural and biological engineering that I wouldn't have learned about otherwise./p>
How has your overall experience with ASABE student competitions been? What kind of improvements could be made for students?
I've noticed that a lot of students won't go out of their way to seek out opportunities like the ASABE student competitions. I would say more than 75% of students in biosystems engineering programs around the country have no idea about their existence. Instead of just reaching out to faculty and staff to share the opportunities, you might consider reaching out to student leaders involved in Alpha Epsilon or student ASABE chapters and ask them to share opportunities. Or I know that those organizations are always looking for guest speakers for meetings. You (or previous award winners) might be able to join in via Zoom to discuss the opportunities and share their experiences and/or basic presentation skill pointers. That should help get the word out there!
Why would you recommend other students participate in ASABE student competitions?
Let me lead off with two quick hooks: building your resume and prize money. Those are pretty self explanatory and hopefully will catch people's interest. But I would say the best reason to participate is that it makes you a better engineer to be good at communication or to practice presenting a new idea slightly outside of your comfort zone. Each of the competitions are designed to better prepare you for your professional career whether that is in industry or academia.
*Kemp, A., Rahman, T., Jahromi, H., & Adhikari, S. (2024). Production of Aviation Fuel-Range Hydrocarbons Through Catalytic Co-Pyrolysis of Polystyrene and Southern Pine. Catalysts, 14(11), 806.