(Press-News.org) An engineer with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has received one of three Gold Medal awards for 2025 from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). Robert T. Burns, a distinguished professor in the UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, was honored at the ASABE Annual Meeting on July 16.
Burns received the Cyrus Hall McCormick – Jerome Increase Case Gold Medal, which recognizes exceptional and meritorious engineering achievement in agriculture that has resulted in new concepts, products, processes or methods that advanced the development of agriculture. His current academic efforts include coordinating the UT Precision Livestock Farming Team and working with the application of technology to collect and analyze data to better monitor and manage animal production systems. In addition, he has more than 30 years of experience in the quantification and management of gaseous emissions (GHG, volatile organic compounds, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide) and particulate matter (TSP, PM10 and PM2.5) from animal production and manure management systems. He is also an expert on manure and nutrient management systems, including the anaerobic digestion of animal manures to produce renewable energy.
Burns is humbled by the honor and says, “Being selected as the 2025 ASABE Cyrus Hall McCormick – Jerome Increase Case Gold Medal recipient is especially meaningful to me because this recognition of my work comes from my agricultural engineering peers who are active in the field.”
An ASABE Fellow, Burns has also received that society’s acclaimed Henry Giese Structures and Environment Award in 2021. He has also served as the Chair of the National Pork Producers Council Air Science Advisory Committee and is the recipient of the G.B. Gunlogson Countryside Engineering Award.
Burns has served as a board member for the International Research Center for Animal Environment and Welfare and as chair of the Pork Air Science Policy Advisory Committee. He is currently serving a fifth term as a member of the USDA – Agricultural Air Quality Task Force (AAQTF). Among his accomplishments nationally and internationally, Burns served as principal investigator for a Tyson Broiler Air Emissions project that collected data used by the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study; contributed to the National Comprehensive Nutrient Management Planning TSP certification program used by USDA for a decade; and is a contributing author to a report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Technical Advisory Group on methane.
Prior to being named as a UTIA distinguished professor, Burns served the UTIA administration as assistant dean, associate dean and dean of UT Extension. A registered professional engineer, Burns holds a B.S. in agricultural engineering, M.S. in environmental engineering, and Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.
END
UTIA’s Robert Burns receives Gold Medal Honor from ASABE
Biosystems engineer receives the McCormick Case Gold Medal
2025-07-17
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Weight loss drugs like Ozempic may help prevent stroke and reduce brain injury-related complications, studies show
2025-07-17
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 17, 2025
CONTACT: Camille Jewell
cjewell@vancomm.com or 202-248-5460
NASHVILLE — Three studies presented today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery’s (SNIS) 22nd Annual Meeting discussed whether using GLP-1 inhibitors could lessen the impacts of stroke and related brain injuries or reduce the risk of stroke altogether. These medications, which lower blood sugar and often cause weight loss, are commonly prescribed for type 2 diabetes and obesity and ...
Magellanic penguins may use currents to conserve energy on long journeys
2025-07-17
Currents can affect marine animals’ locomotion, energy expenditure and ability to navigate; the force of currents may cause them to drift off-course of their intended trajectory. A study published July 17th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Richard Michael Gunner at the Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensbiologie, Germany, suggests that Magellanic penguins can sense current drift and maximize navigation efficiency by alternating between traveling in a direct route in calm conditions and swimming with the flow of strong currents ...
Novel dome-celled aerogels maintain superelasticity despite temperature extremes
2025-07-17
Using a novel dome-shaped structural design, researchers present a chemically diverse collection of aerogels that remain elastic and mechanically intact under extreme temperatures. The findings open the door for the fabrication of new aerogel materials suited to extreme environments required for applications in space, aerospace, energy, and high-temperature industries. Aerogels are an advanced class of materials characterized by their extremely low density and high porosity, which makes them ideal for a wide range of applications. However, despite improvements in design and fabrication, aerogels still face challenges in maintaining thermomechanical ...
Controlled human gut colonization by an engineered microbial therapeutic
2025-07-17
Engineered gut bacteria designed to treat kidney stones successfully colonized the gut microbiome and reduced oxalate levels in animal models and early clinical trials in humans, researchers report. The findings offer a promising, yet still imperfect, step toward microbial therapies. Efforts to manipulate the gut microbiome using engineered bacteria for therapeutic purposes have shown promise in animals, but often fail in clinical settings due to being hindered by inconsistent colonization. To overcome this challenge, Weston Whitaker and colleagues focused on Phocaeicola vulgatus, a common gut bacterium, and engineered it to consume the seaweed-derived nutrient, porphyran. ...
Vaccination could mitigate climate-driven disruptions to malaria control
2025-07-17
Tropical cyclones in Madagascar lead to sharp spikes in malaria infections – particularly in children – due to interruptions in control efforts, according to a new study. However, the findings show that newly introduced long-lasting vaccines can help to mitigate these gaps. This points to pathways to climate-resilient control strategies in malaria-prone regions. Malaria, already a persistent global health challenge, poses new threats from climate change, not only through rising temperatures that shift mosquito dynamics but also via extreme weather events like tropical cyclones. Such disasters can severely ...
Smartphone-based earthquake detection and early warning system rivals traditional, seismic network based alternatives
2025-07-17
A global Android smartphone-based earthquake detection and early warning system can detect seismic activity in real time and deliver life-saving alerts with effectiveness rivaling that of traditional seismic networks, according to a new study. Despite our ability to predict where they are likely to occur, earthquakes continue to pose a serious threat to communities worldwide. Large-scale events can result in widespread loss of life and injury. These risks underscore the urgent need for protective measures including earthquake ...
First winner of AAAS-Chen Institute Prize builds tool to visualize biomolecular interactions
2025-07-17
For his work to help capture and view dynamic small-scale behaviors of biomolecules that have gone unseen – and which are critical to applications like drug development – Zhuoran Qiao has been awarded the inaugural Chen Institute and Science Prize for Al Accelerated Research. The prize recognizes innovative young researchers who apply techniques in artificial intelligence to help the research community solve important problems and accelerate their work.
“I was thrilled to partner with the Chen Institute to launch this new prize initiative,” said Yury V. Suleymanov, senior editor at Science. “Our winner, ...
Research spotlight: Study finds a protective kidney RNA that could transform disease treatment
2025-07-17
Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience?
Cells contain helper molecules called transfer RNAs (tRNAs), which carry building blocks (amino acids) to make proteins. These tRNAs can be broken down into smaller pieces called tRNA-derived RNAs (tsRNAs or tDRs) that have new jobs - to help cells deal with stress and challenging situations.
In this study, we focused on one specific tDR, called tRNA-Asp-GTC-3’tDR, which becomes more abundant during stress. tRNA-Asp-GTC-3’tDR is present at baseline in kidney cells and increases in response to disease-related stress signals in cell culture and several mouse models of kidney diseases. ...
Research Spotlight: Study reveals an unexpected role for protein aggregates in brain disease
2025-07-17
Raghu R. Chivukula, MD, PhD, a physician-investigator in the Departments of Medicine & Surgery and the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, is the senior author of a paper published in Science, “Polyglycine-mediated aggregation of FAM98B disrupts tRNA processing in GGC repeat disorders.”
Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience?
Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, are devastating and incurable diseases. Although many neurodegenerative ...
UK Government and UK Research and Innovation join forces to launch multi-billion-pound compute roadmap
2025-07-17
Quicker health diagnoses, smarter energy supplies, tackling climate change and improved public service delivery – just some huge potential benefits of the new compute roadmap, launched by DSIT and UKRI.
The roadmap heralds a significant increase in publicly accessible compute capacity. Investments include up to £2 billion to deliver a holistic and user-centred compute ecosystem with £1 billion to expand the AI Research Resource 20-fold by 2030.
It also provides up to £750 million for UKRI to invest in a new national supercomputing service at Edinburgh.
UKRI is further ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Artificial tongue uses milk to determine heat level in spicy foods
IU Kelley Futurecast: AI and energy infrastructure may buoy US economy in 2026
The biggest threats to maintaining fat bike trails: climate change and volunteer burnout
AI models for drug design fail in physics
Practice pattern of aerosol drug therapy in acute respiratory distress syndrome patients: An aero-in-ICU study
GLIS model as a predictor of outcomes in older adults with heart failure
Molecules in motion: pioneering the era of supramolecular robotics
Faster and more reliable crystal structure prediction of organic molecules
Thankful at work: A two-week gratitude journal boosts employee engagement
Fibroblasts: Hidden drivers of heart failure progression
IOCB Prague unveils a fundamentally faster, more affordable way to produce quantum nanodiamonds
Artificial intelligence takes the lead in revolutionizing cancer research explored at NFCR’s 2025 Global Summit and Award Ceremonies for Cancer Research and Entrepreneurship.
Switching memories on and off with epigenetics
This is your brain without sleep
3D DNA looping discovery in rice paves the way for higher yields with less fertilizer
Four subgroups of PCOS open up for individualized treatment
Perovskites reveal ultrafast quantum light in new study
New clues on how physical forces spread in neurons
Heart ‘blueprint’ reveals origins of defects and insights into fetal development
Some acute and chronic viral infections may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease
Flavanols in cocoa can protect blood vessel function following uninterrupted sitting - study
$100 Million gift will advance UCSF’s dementia research and care
The 4th Japan-India Universities Forum on 15 November
Arctic town Kiruna is colder after the move
Mayo Clinic study finds majority of midlife women with menopause symptoms do not seek care
Underwater robot ‘Lassie’ discovers remarkable icefish nests during search for Shackleton’s lost ship off Antarctica
Wearable robots you can wear like clothes: automatic weaving of “fabric muscle” brings commercialization closer
Researcher improves century-old equation to predict movement of dangerous air pollutants.
Heatwaves linked to rise in sleep apnoea cases in Europe
Down‑top strategy engineered large‑scale fluorographene/PBO nanofibers composite papers with excellent wave‑transparent performance and thermal conductivity
[Press-News.org] UTIA’s Robert Burns receives Gold Medal Honor from ASABEBiosystems engineer receives the McCormick Case Gold Medal