The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture
ANNUAL REPORTING FORM
 
Paul Ayers, Professor
Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science
Annual Performance Period: January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007


A. SUMMARY AND IMPACTS.

1. Summary. Provide an overall summary (500 words or less) of your accomplishments during the reporting period.

My most significant accomplishments this past year are a continued strong research program (with 23 new papers and abstract and poster presentations). This includes publishing 8 journal articles (13 in the past two years), 6 of which I was lead or second author to one of my graduate students. One of the papers received the ASABE Honorable Mention Award in the Transactions of the ASABE.

Again my grant activity was strong with 10 funded project in 2007 (3 new and 7 continuing) and procuring over $188,749 in external research support this past year. Strong research funding has continued from the U. S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and the National Park Service (and related agencies). The underwater videomapping activity is recognized as a valuable natural resource mapping tool. A total of 6 projects related to underwater video mapping in 3 seperate National Parks have been secured in the past 3 years.

I am again organizing and moderating a technical session at the 2008 ASABE conference bringing in 8 military researchers to present their findings to ASABE members. This is the second military-focused ASABE technical session in recent history. I organized the first in 2006.

I advised 5 graduate students (1 Ph.D. and 4 M.S.), including two recently admitted at the end of 2007. One M.S. student gradudated in 2007. Four are supported on external research funding. My teaching load consisted of BsE 401 (revised course) and BsE 519. I also co-advised a senior design team in 2007.

2. Impacts. List up to three significant impacts of your program. Impact statements should be one to three sentences and should be written in a way that would be meaningful to the public.

-Vehicle tracking was continued at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) in Hawaii and Fort Harrison in Montana. Dust generated by vehicle movements at PTA was predicted. This is the first tracking activity conducted by the military in this environmentally sensitive training site.
- GPS-based underwater video mapping has been conducted in the Obed Wild and Scenic River, Big South Fork River and Recreation Area and on Abrams Creek of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The GIS-based maps showing fish and mussel habitats have been generated in cooperation with NPS personnel to assist in endangered species repopulation activities.
- Based on the results of previous continuous lawnmower roll test and model evaluation, ASABE S547 ROPS Standard has been removed. This Standard referenced an inappropriate continuous roll model for performance testing.



B. PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS (EXTENSION, RESEARCH AND TEACHING). As applicable, list title, names of participants (PIs, Leaders, Co-PIs, Co-leaders, Collaborators etc.), project number, sponsor, your role ( leader/co-leader/collaborator) and your percent effort on the project as stated in the project description or document.

Predicting Vehicle Impacts. U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (Principal Investigator, 100%) R11-1416-027 and R11-1416-072. Collaborators: Kun Liu, Ph.D. student; Naga Potteti, M.S. student; Ken Swinson; Alex McLemore; Rebecca Messer; Adam Duncan; Joseph Freeman(40%)

ROPS Design and Testing for Agricultural Vehicles and Tractor Safety Initiative. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Principal Investigator, 100%) (subaward through Colorado State University) R11-1416-069, 074 and 087. Collaborators: Dr. Juhua Liu, Colorado State University (5%)

Video Mapping for River Habitat and Endangered Species. (Principal Investigator, 100%) R11-1416-068, 075, 087, 096. Collaborators: Emily Carwhile, MS; Steve Krajewski; Ken Swinson; Boone Hillenbrand; Samba Adoulaye; Alex McLemore; Rebecca Messer; Adam Heath; (25%)

Teaching BsE 401; BsE 519; Senior Design Project Co-Advisor; Graduate Student Advising; (30%)

C. INSTRUCTION, TEACHING AND EXTENSION EDUCATION. Detail credit and non-credit instruction and teaching activities.

1. College credit instruction. List courses in which you were an instructor or guest lecturer during the current calendar year. Include special topics, independent study and internship courses. Provide course number and title, your involvement, semester(s), credit hours and number of students. Please append a summary of teaching evaluations (student and/or peer) if this information is available.

Course number and title Involvement Semester Credit
hours
Number of
students
BsE519 Modeling Techniques and ApplicationsTotalSpring33
BsE402 Biosystems Engineering Design IITeamSpring66
BsET500 ThesisTotalFall31
BsE401 Biosystems Engineering Design I*(OC)CoordinatorFall26

2. Formal continuing education (certification programs, seminar series, in-service training, field days, faculty and/or staff training, journal club, etc.). Provide descriptive title of activity, your involvement, number of participants or students involved, number and duration of each session.

Descrip. title, including dates Involvement Number of students
or participants
Number of
sessions
Duration of each
session (hours)
         

3. Extension presentations and workshops. Indicate title, type, and scope of presentation; number of times presented; attendance estimates. Include evidence of effectiveness (e.g. evaluation summaries) where applicable.

Title/Type of presentation Scope Number of times presented Total attendees
       

4. Public addresses to lay audiences (TV/radio presentations, service groups, etc.). Indicate title, type, scope of presentation; number of times presented; attendance estimates. Include evidence of effectiveness (e.g. evaluation summaries) where applicable.

Title/Type of presentation Scope Number of times presented Total attendees
       

5. Presentations at professional meetings, without published abstracts. List presenter, co-authors (if any), title, date and name of meeting (list scientific oral or poster presentations having published abstracts or proceedings at D5).

Ayers, P., H. Howard, A. Anderson, K. Liu, P. Woodford and Q. Li. 2007. Influence of vehicle type and soil conditions on soil rutting. Poster presentation at the 2007 ASA meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Potteti, N., P. Ayers, H. Howard, A. Anderson, and D. Faucette. 2007. Tracking military vehicles to predict dust generation. Poster presentation at the 2007 ASA meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Ayers, P. M. Rice, Q. Li, H. Howard, and A. Anderson. 2007. Modeling military vehicle terrain impacts. Poster presented at the Joint North America, Asia-Pacific ISTVS Conference, Fairbanks, AL.

Liu, K., P. Ayers, H. Howard and A. Anderson. 2007. Influence of turning radius on military vehicle induced rut formation. Poster presented at the Joint North America, Asia-Pacific ISTVS Conference, Fairbanks, AL.

Ayers, P. D., R. Messer and R. Curry. 2007. Underwater video mapping for assessing and monitoring coral reef ecosystem health. Poster presented at the Geotool '07 Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC.

6. Student mentoring. Fill in the boxes to indicate number of students in each category.

Level of students No. of students advised No. of active graduate committees on which you served as:
Major professor Committee member
Undergraduate      
Masters  
Doctoral  

7. Student or commodity club activities (e.g. club advisor, team competitions, honor or professional societies, etc.). List the club or group; your role with the club or group; and the activities, honors or awards received by this group under your mentorship.

BESS 1/4 scale Tractor team - co-advisor

Minneapolis ASABE Student Poster Competition advisor for Alex McLemore:
Evaluating GPS receiver under tree cover.

UG Student Mentoring (Student - Project)

Ken Swinson – Underwater Video Mapping
Steve Krajewski - Kayak mounted depth sensor
Becca Messer - Coral debris mapping
Samba Abdoulaye - Underwater substrate classification
Boone Hillenbrand - Side scan sonar implementation
Alex Mclemore - Dfirst GPS data evaluation
Joseph Freeman - VEIMAT GPS receiver evaluation
Adam Duncan - Coal dredge investigation

8. Other instructional and teaching activities.

Presented lecture (Creative Research Approaches to Solve Natural Resource Problems) to the Virginia Tech Biosystems Engineering Senior Design class, September 13.

Included an oral presentation video taping and review protocol for BsE 401. Each student had 4 oral presentations videotaped, received copies of the video, are participated in a presentation critique session.


D. PUBLICATIONS. List only publications that were published during the annual reporting period (for #8, submitted during reporting period). Format citations as typical and appropriate for outlet. If a co-author(s) is a student or was working under your direct supervision, place an asterisk after that person's name.

1. Refereed articles or refereed reviews appearing in peer-reviewed professional journals.

Anderson, A. B., P. D. Ayers, H. Howard, and K. D. Newlin.  2007.  Vehicle impacts on vegetation cover at Camp Atterbury, Indiana: Part 1. Initial impacts and vegetation recovery.  Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Sciences (116):126-138.

Anderson, A. B., P. D. Ayers, P. Sullivan, and W. R. Ochsner.  2007.  Vehicle impacts on vegetation cover at Camp Atterbury, Indiana: Part 1. Predicting impacts of untested vehicles.  Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Sciences (116):139-147.

Comer, R. S.*, P. D. Ayers, and J. Liu.  2007.  Evaluation of engineering plastic for rollover protective structures (ROPS) mounting.  Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health 13(2): 137-145.

Li, Q.*, P. D. Ayers, and A. B. Anderson.  2007.  Prediction of Impacts of Wheeled Vehicles on Terrain.  Journal of Terramechanics 44(2): 205-215.

Li, Q.*, P. D. Ayers, and A. B. Anderson.  2007.  Effects of Speed and Turning Radius on Terrain Impact Severity of Off-road Vehicles.  Applied Engineering in Agriculture 23(6): 701-706.

Wang, X.*, P. D. Ayers, A. R. Womac, and D. Depauw.  2007.  Sensitivity analysis and validation of continuous roll prediction model for front drive mowers.  Applied Engineering in Agriculture 23(4): 455-461.

Wu, C.*, P. D. Ayers, and A. Anderson.  2007.  GIS and Neural Network method for potential road identification.  Transactions of the ASABE 50(4): 1455-1463.

Wu, C.*, P. D. Ayers, and A. Anderson.  2007.  Validating a GIS-based multi-criteria method for Potential Road Identification.  Journal of Terramechanics 44(3): 255-263.

2. Book chapters or books.

3. Bulletins, reports, circulars, pamphlets, factsheets.

4. Popular press, trade, UTIA magazine or newsletter articles.

5. Abstracts from scientific or discipline meetings, papers from conference proceedings, etc.

Anderson, A., H. Howard, P. D. Ayers, G. Wang, G. Gertner, and P. Woodford.  2007.  Assessing vehicles impacts at U. S. Army installations. Presentation at the 2007 ASA meeting in New Orleans, LA.  2007 ASA meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Anderson, A., P. D. Ayers, G. Wang, G. Gertner, H. Howard, and S. Fang.  2007.  Assessing vehicle impacts at multiple scales on US Army installation, example using Fort Riley, Kansas.  Paper No. 2007-41-0427. Proceedings of the Joint North America, Asia-Pacific ISTVS Conference, Fairbanks, AK.

Ayers, P. D., K. Liu, H. Howard, A. Anderson, P. Woodford, and Q. Li.  2007.  Soil rutting from turning wheeled and tracked vehicles in wet and dry soil conditions at Fort Riley military installation.  2007 ASA meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Ayers, P. D., M. K. Rice, L. Randolph, A. Anderson, and H. Howard.  2007.  Determining vegetative impacts from Stryker exercises at Fort Lewis military installation.  2007 SRP Workshop, Hampton VA.

Ayers, P. D., M. K. Rice, Q. Li, H. Howard, and A. Anderson.  2007.  Modeling military vehicle terrain impacts.  Paper No. 2007-41-0528. Proceedings of the Joint North America, Asia-Pacific ISTVS Conference, Fairbanks, AK.

Ayers, P. D., N. S. Potteti, D. Faucette, H. Howard, and A. Anderson.  2007.  Dust generation from Stryker transformation at Pohakuloa training area.  2007 SRP Workshop, Hampton VA.

Ayers, P. D., R. E. Messer, and R. Curry.  2007.  Underwater video mapping for assessing and monitoring coral reef ecosystem health.  Geotool '07 Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC.

Howard, H., P. D. Ayers, and K. J. Simmons.  2007.  Vegetative recovery rates after military training.  Paper No. 2007-41-0225. Proceedings of the Joint North America, Asia-Pacific ISTVS Conference, Fairbanks, AK.

Liu, K.*, P. D. Ayers, H. Howard, and A. Anderson.  2007.  Influence of turning radius on military vehicle induced rut formation.  Paper No. 2007-41-0326. Proceedings of the Joint North America, Asia-Pacific ISTVS Conference, Fairbanks, AK.

Potteti, N. S.*, P. D. Ayers, H. Howard, A. Anderson, and D. Faucette.  2007.  Quantifying dust generation from pre and post Stryker transformation at Pohakuloa training area.  2007 ASA meeting in New Orleans, LA.

6. Theses/Dissertations completed by students that you directed.

7. Other publications.

Carwhile, Emily*  2007.  Coal Sediment Mapping and Monitoring in the Big South Fork NRRA.  Capstone MS project report.

8. Articles submitted during the reporting period that are in review, in press or rejected. Please do not list articles in preparation.

Shoop, S., B. Coutermarsh, P. D. Ayers, A. Anderson, and R. Affleck.  2007.  Tire force and terrain disturbance measurements during turning maneuvers.  Transactions of the ASABE.  (in review)

Wu, C.*, P. D. Ayers, and A. Anderson.  2007.  Quantifying the intensity of vehicle impacts using vehicle tracking devices during live training exercises.  Journal of Terramechanics.  (in review)

Li, Q.*, P. D. Ayers, and A. B. Anderson.  2007.  Modeling of terrain impact caused by tracked vehicles.  Journal of Terramechanics 44(4): In press.  (in press)


E. FUNDING. Format each entry as a citation, include as applicable: investigators (with percent effort shown on grant or contract document), title, source/agency.

1. Grant and contract proposals submitted but not awarded during this reporting period. Indicate date of submission and status (still pending, rejected).

2. Grants and contracts awarded during this reporting period. List inclusive period of support (start and end dates) and total amount of award.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  Obed River Habitat Mapping.  National Park Service.  7/1/07-6/30/08.  $17,625.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  Obed Habitat River Mapping.  Nature Conservancy.  6/30/07-6/29/08.  $15,000.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  Vehicle Dynamics Monitoring and Tracking in Support of Land Management.  US Army.  1/1/08-12/30/08.  $94,524.

3. Grants and contracts awarded in past years that continued into this reporting period. List inclusive period of support (start and end dates) and total amount of award.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  Predicting Vehicle Impacts.  US Army.  1/1/03-6/30/07.  $535,272.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  ROPS Design and Testing for Agricultural Vehicles.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (subaward through Colorado State University).  5/1/03-9/14/07.  $253,288.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  Vehicle Tracking and Impact Assessment Methods Development and Data Analysis .  U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories .  1/31/06-12/31/08.  $135,600.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  River Habitat Mapping II.  National Park Service.  9/1/05-3/31/07.  $19,975.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  Abrams Creek Under Water Video Mapping for Federally-listed Fish Habitat.  National Park Service.  5/11/06-5/11/07.  $5,000.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  Abrams Creek underwater video mapping for endangered fish habitat.  Great Smoky Mountain Conservation Association.  6/28/06-6/30/07.  $10,000.

Ayers, P. D. (100%).  National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  9/1/05-8/31/07.  $10,806.

4. Gifts. List recipients, donor, items or amount donated and dollar equivalent received during the reporting period.

5. Grant reports submitted. List authors, title, to whom submitted, date submitted.

Ayers, P. D., X. Wang and R. Comer. 2007. ROPS Design and Testing for Agricultural Vehicles. Final Report submitted to High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Contract #U50 OH07545-03.

Ayers, P. D. 2007. Abrams Creek Underwater Video Mapping for Federally-listed Fish Habitat. Final Report submitted to GRSM National Park Service.

Liu, J. and P. Ayers. 2007. National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative final subreport submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


6. Other (e.g. sales, royalties).


F. OTHER CREATIVE ACTIVITIES.

1. Tech. advances (intell. prop., patent, copyright, products, processes, genetic lines/varieties).

2. Computer software (e.g. instructional or research software, CD ROMs).

3. Educational tools.

4. Internet activities.

5. Other creative products and activities.


G. SERVICE. List client outreach activities (both public and private sectors) and professional service.
    
1. Client service.
 a. Commodity or discipline group service activities. List committees, offices held or other roles.

b. Clinical and diagnostic services. List type of service provided and client(s).

c. Service to individual producers, businesses, or corporations as a specialist, consultant or expert advisor (whether paid or unpaid). List your one-on-one service activities with this group of clients.

d. Other (e.g. Ag Day activities, Varsity Visit, judging, presentations at clubs and K-12 schools).

Northeast TN Ag Career Day recruiting presentations, Greenville TN.
Participated in Freshmen Engineering EF 151 Program Fair
Advised Tammy Cheung re: recruiting activities
Letters to incoming and possible BESS students


2. Professional service (for professional colleagues).
a. Within the university.
I. Committee work. Briefly describe your involvement during the reporting period.
i. University.

ii. UTIA.

CASNR Idea Grants Committee - Review and rank grant proposals
UTIA Advisory Committee - representing Ag Exp Station
CASNR Graduate Curriculum Committee - revise curriculum
UTIA Dean Research Advisory Council - counsel Dean


iii. Department.

BESS Graduate Committee, Chair - review and process graduate applications
BESS Scholarship Committee - review scholarship requests
BESS Tenure and Promotion Committee - review faculty performance
Export Control Representative - report current events to faculty

II. Other (e.g. technical assistance to colleagues, peer reviews,
mentoring of junior faculty, hosting visiting scientists).


Mentor for Dr. Philip Ye

b. Outside the university (e.g. committee work/offices in professional or public organizations or societies, editorship, editorial boards, review of manuscripts (indicate outlet) and project proposals (indicate agency), meetings organized, member of grant review panel or study section, moderator, etc.).

Member, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
Member, ASABE PM-45 Soil Dynamics Committee
Chairman, ASABE PM-45/5 Soil-Plant Dynamics Committee
Member ASABE ATSC ROPS PM 23/2/2 Sub Committee
Member ASABE X599 Standard Development Committee
Member ASABE PM-52 Turf and Landscape Equipment Committee
Manuscript review (ASABE, Journal of Terramechanics, Environmental Management) (5 papers)
Poster Contest Judge at 2007 ISTVS Conference, Fairbanks, AK
Tractor Safety Initiative presentation at NORA Research Council meeting, Washington DC


H. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (meetings, workshops, classes, trips, etc.). List the event or activity, sponsor, duration of event and your role.

Attended technical presentations at:

ASABE Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference, Louisville, KY, February
US Army Sustainable Range Conference, Hampton Roads, VA, May
ASABE Conference - Providence, Rhode Island, June
International Society of Terrain Vehicle Systems (ISTVS) Conference - Fairbanks, AK, June
ASA Conference - New Orleans, LA, November


I. PERSONNEL SUPERVISION. List the postdoctoral fellows, research associates, research assistants, technicians, extension associates, extension assistants, graduate assistants, undergraduate students, clerical personnel or others that you supervised during the year.

ClassificationFTE's per semester
SpringSummerFall
Postdoctoral fellows      
Research associates, assistants, technicians      
Extension associates, assistants      
Graduate students, assistants
Undergraduate students
Clerical personnel      
Other    


J. HONORS AND AWARDS. List honors and awards received during reporting period, including the name of the organization presenting the award.

ASABE Honorable Mention Paper Award