Recipients of the Bio & Ag Outstanding Alumnus Award
Dr. Godfrey Gayle - 2012
Dr James W. Jones - 2011
Dr. Charles Suggs - 2010
Mr. Justus M. Ammons - 2009
Dr. Thomas Whitaker - 2008
Dr. Larry Sykes - 2007
Elijah J. (Jim) Tyson - 2006
George Blum - 2005
Honored Alumnus
In Fall of 2005, The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences initiated recognition of an Outstanding Alumnus Award for each department in CALS. This coincided nicely with the Bio & Ag department’s plan to recognize Outstanding Alumnus. The recipient must have received a degree from the Bio & Ag department. Nominees should have a record of service to their community, industry, and/or to NC State and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
If you would like to nominate someone for the award, please submit a nomination form to the Department Head Dr. Robert Evans. Request for nominations are due April 15th. each year. The nomination letter should explain why the nominee deserves the award. The award recipient will be recognized in the Fall of each year.
2012 Award Recipient — Dr. Godfrey A. Gayle
Biographical
Dr. Godfrey A. Gayle is Professor of Biological Engineering in the Departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Design and Chemical, Biological and Bioengineering at North Carolina A&T State University. Dr. Gayle received the MS in 1976 and PhD in 1982 from N. C. State under the direction of Dr. Wayne Skaggs. He received the BS in Agricultural Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University in 1974. Godfrey was born in Jamaica where he attended secondary schools before earning an Associate Degree in Agricultural Science from the Jamaica School of Agriculture in 1964.
Prior to coming to North Carolina in 1972, Dr. Gayle’s career began as a Field supervisor for Herbicides at the Innswood Sugar Estates in Spanish Town, Jamaica. This position transitioned to a Field Engineer with responsibility for water distribution (irrigation and drainage), land preparation, and field layout. His academic career began as a Lecturer at NC A&T while he was working on the PhD at NCSU. Upon completion of the PhD, he was appointed an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Engineering at NC A&T advancing through the academic ranks to Professor in 1991. He began serving in leadership responsibilities as Director of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from 1987 to 1991, Acting Chairperson for the Department of Plant Science and Technology from 1991 to 1993, Chairman of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design from 1993 to 2001, and lastly Director of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from 2001 to 2004.
Dr. Gayle led the successful effort to get the Agricultural Engineering Program (now Biological Engineering) at NC A&T accredited through ABET. To this end, in 1992, NC A&T State University became the first minority institution in the US to have an accredited Agricultural/Biological Engineering degree program. Following this effort, Dr. Gayle became the first ABET Program evaluator to be named from a minority institution. Godfrey strongly encouraged students to be active in ASABE and to take the FE and PE examinations. Over the past 12 years, Dr. Gayle secured over $1M to support student scholarship, development and participation in ASABE meetings. The product of this effort has been the placement of NC A&T - BE minority graduates – 9 in federal agencies, 14 in state government, 20 in private industry, 23 completing MS, 6 completing PhDs, one dentistry degree from UNCCH, and one law degree from Harvard.
Dr. Gayle was instrumental in recruiting the NRCS technology support center to Greensboro, hence NC A&T is hosting one of three centers in the U.S. Dr. Gayle is currently involved in teaching and water resource research but is beginning to wind down as he prepares to enter the world of retirement.
2011 Award Recipient — Dr. James Jones
Biographical
Dr. James W. Jones is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida and Director of the Florida Climate Institute. Dr. Jones received the PhD in BAE from NCSU in 1975 under the direction of the late Dr. Henry Bowen and Dr. Robert Sowell. Jim received the BS in Agricultural Engineering from Texas Tech in 1967 and MS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Mississippi State in 1971. Jim spent 10 years with USDA-ARS as a Research Engineer concurrently with 2 years as an Affiliate Assistant Professor at Mississippi State before joining the Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Florida as an Associate Professor in 1977.
Dr. Jones is internationally recognized as a leader in the development and application of biological models for agricultural systems. He is the principal architect of the Decision Support Systems for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), which combines physical and biological models for 26 crops with data bases and software tools for application by scientists, engineers, climatologists, and economists to address problems critical to agricultural production, water usage, and environmental impact. The DSSAT system of models has been used extensively in over 100 countries worldwide and provides the basis for approximately 75% of the national and international studies to assess impacts of climate and climate change on crops and soils. Dr. Jones and colleagues have been innovative in applying these models to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative production systems for responding to changes in climate as well as other important issues such as sequestering soil carbon and incorporating genetics to optimize plant breeding for target climates and soil conditions. Well over 1500 researchers and practitioners worldwide have been trained to use the DSSAT models. As an author or co-author of over 290 publications, a search of science direct for citations that refer to DSSAT and its component models returns over 34,000 journal citations and 1800 book citations, by far the most widely cited of all cropping system models. Dr. Jones and his team have made tremendous positive impacts on food production globally and on our ability to assess the impacts of climate change on agricultural sustainability.
The significance of Dr. Jones’ work has been acknowledged through his advanced rank at the University of Florida, through the careers of many scientists he has trained and 21 graduate students and 18 post docs he has mentored, and through numerous awards and honors. He is an elected Fellow of 3 Professional Societies - ASABE, SSSA, and ASA; has been recognized by 4 international awards; and received 3 superior paper awards. Dr. Jones retired from the University of Florida Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department in February, 2011.
2010 Award Recipient — Dr. Charles Suggs
Biographical
Dr. Charlie Suggs, a native of Whiteville, North Carolina, received three degrees (B. S., M.S. and PhD) in Agricultural Engineering from NC State University in 1949, 1955 and 1959, respectively. He was the first to receive a PhD from the BAE Department. After graduation with his B.S., he was an Instructor for Dearborn Motors in Detroit, MI (1949-50), a Service Supervisor for International Harvester in Ft. Wayne, IN (1950-51), and a NC Ag. Experiment Station Branch Superintendent at Greenville, NC (1951-53). He returned to the BAE Department in 1953 to graduate school, and was then employed there from 1954 until retirement in 1993 as Professor Emeritus after 40 years on the faculty.
Dr. Suggs’ major research interests were human factors engineering and mechanization of tobacco harvesting and planting. He was a pioneer in the areas of ergonomics and effects of vibration and other environmental factors on human response and performance, and use of vibration in diagnosis and development of dynamic models of the human body. He is also well known for his contribution in developing the world's first tobacco leaf harvester utilizing the patented rubber leaf stripper which is widely employed on current commercial harvesters. To further mechanize the harvesting operation, he developed a process in which the leaves are conveyed into box-like structures to hold them for presentation to the curing environment. By 1976 there were about 2,500 mechanical tobacco harvesters on farms in North Carolina; today they are commonplace and have eliminated many hours of backbreaking work. He was adviser to 14 M.S. and 10 PhD students, having a major influence on development of leaders in agricultural and biological engineering. His students appreciated his wisdom and wit as well as his professional guidance. He had 117 refereed journal publications in his career. He has also been active in international work, serving as a consultant, in CIGR, and as a member of Volunteers for International Technical Assistance.
Dr. Suggs was active in ASABE, serving as chair of NC Section, Chair of Southeast Region, editor of Power & Machinery for Transactions of ASAE, and served on several committees, such as Bioengineering, Human Factors, and Safety. He was recognized as a Fellow in ASAE in 1978. In 1993 he and his wife established the Charles W. and Jane P. Suggs Scholarship Endowment for the BAE Department. Charlie and Jane married in 1949, and have 3 children (Chip, Susan and Cynthia). His hobbies include gardening and woodworking.
2009 Award Recipient — Mr. Justus M. Ammons
Biographical
Mr. Justus Ammons, a native of Mars Hill, North Carolina, received his B. S. in Agricultural Engineering Technology from NC State University in 1957. After graduation, he spent four years in the Air Force and five years as an Agricultural Engineer with Carolina Power and Light (CP&L). While an employee of CP&L during the mid 1960’s, he was active in the NC Section of American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE), and served one year as Chair. In 1968, he began developing land and building houses. Mr. Ammons has been very successful in developments which have contributed greatly to several communities in North Carolina. His developments include Northchase in Wilmington, Village of Nags Head in Nags Head, Greystone Village in Raleigh and others. He is one of the first to develop a Planned Unit Development (PUD) of over 500 acres which includes churches, schools, shopping center, lakes, pool, greenways and Springmoor Life Care Center which consists of 650 units with a 176 bed health care center. In planning Springmoor, Mr. Ammons enlisted the guidance of consultants and community leaders and personally studied the needs of senior citizens. His deep interest in senior citizens and his personal and financial commitment resulted in Springmoor becoming one of the nation’s foremost life care retirement communities. He has also built golf courses, day care centers, shopping centers, and many houses. Because of his love for the mountains, he is presently developing Mountain Traditions, a typical mountain community near his home of Mars Hill, North Carolina.
While in college, he was a member of FarmHouse Fraternity in its early days at NC State, and he was instrumental in helping FarmHouse Fraternity build an innovative new fraternity house which was completed in 2004. When he was a Sophomore, he submitted plans for a new building for Agricultural Engineering, and won the $1,000 first prize in the student competition. Mr. Ammons has been involved with the NCSU Alumni Association and has served on their Foundations Board. He is a member of the Wolfpack Club and enjoys NCSU sports. He has been involved in civic clubs, political and governmental organizations. He was a charter member of Greystone Baptist Church where he has served as a deacon, Sunday School teacher and trustee. He has also served as a Trustee and supporter of Mars Hill College for a number of years.
2008 Award Recipient — Dr. Thomas Whitaker
Biographical
Dr. Thomas Whitaker, a native of Buncombe County, North Carolina, received a B. S. and M. S. (Agric. Engr.) from NC State University in 1962 and 1964 and a Ph.D. (Agric. Engr.) from Ohio State University in 1967. Dr. Whitaker in 1967 accepted a position with U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Raleigh, NC, at NC State University in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering where he has dedicated himself over the past 41 years to the improvement of food quality and food safety. Dr. Whitaker also holds the rank of Professor (USDA) in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, NC State University.
Dr. Whitaker is internationally known for developing methods to evaluate the performance of mycotoxin sampling plans for agricultural commodities. Mycotoxins are carcinogenic compounds produced by fungi and found in a variety of foods. As a result, over 100 countries control maximum limits in foods and feed. His research studies include (1) the measurement of variability associated with sampling, sample preparation, and analysis, (2) determination of the aflatoxin distribution among sample test results, and (3) development of statistical models to predict the performance of mycotoxin sampling plans at detecting contaminated consignments in the food chain. His research has assisted domestic and international producers, processors, manufacturers, exporters, importers, and regulatory agencies to develop mycotoxin control programs. Methods developed for mycotoxin have been extended to evaluate the performance of sampling plans used to detect genetically modified seed in grain, TCK spores in wheat, pesticide on seed, protein allergens in food products, and toxic compounds in fruit.
Dr. Whitaker has authored or co-authored 120 refereed publications and has made over 100 presentations at national and international scientific meetings and workshops. His research efforts have established Dr. Whitaker as a recognized expert and world leader in his field. Dr. Whitaker has received numerous awards. His research program has been recognized by the Food Engineering Division of ASABE as one of the six outstanding research achievements of the 20th Century; he received the Harvey W. Wiley Award from Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) for achievements in research; and he received the Group Honors Award for Excellence from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for expanding U.S. wheat exports to China, Brazil, Mexico, and India. He has been invited to participate as a member of several international committees and expert consultations. The methods developed to evaluate the performance of mycotoxin sampling plans have been accepted and used by USDA, FDA, the US peanut, almond, and grain industries, as well as internationally by FAO/WHO, IAEA, regulatory agencies, and food manufacturers in the various countries. Working in a team environment, his research provided vital information that helped establish worldwide standards for mycotoxin limits and sampling plans for peanuts and almonds traded in the export market.
Dr. Whitaker and his wife Jill Whitaker live in Cary, NC. They have three children, Laura, Chris, and Courtney and three grand children. Dr. Whitaker’s service to agriculture continued the family tradition. His father, John V. Whitaker, served many years in the NC Dept. of Agriculture and later as Secretary of the NC Milk Commission. His father-in-law, Ralph Greene, developed and supervised the BAE Research Shop from the late 1940s to 1973.
2007 Award Recipient — Dr. Larry Sykes
Biographical
Dr. Larry Sykes has been named the 2007 Bio&Ag Outstanding Alumnus. Dr. Sykes, a native of Franklin County in North Carolina, received three degrees from the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at North Carolina State University: a BS in 1966, a MS in 1968, and a PhD in 1971.
Following the completion of his PhD in 1971, Dr. Sykes took a job with Philip Morris in Richmond, VA where he remained in various positions until his retirement in early 2004. He retired as Director, Agricultural Programs in the Leaf Department. In this capacity, he directed and initiated liaison for Philip Morris with the United States tobacco production industry concerning tobacco production technology; tobacco production policy; and public issues. Tobacco production activities included responsibility for a Philip Morris grants program in support of research, extension and academic programs at seven land-grant universities in the southeastern United States, including North Carolina State University. This grants program required communications with project leaders, department heads, directors, deans and vice presidents in administering a program in excess of $1 million annually.
Dr. Sykes has been very instrumental in making Philip Morris, USA the single largest corporate donor to NC State University. They contribute more than $600,000 annually to support the tobacco program at NC State including the Philip Morris Ag. Leadership Program for young farmers, the Philip Morris Professorship Endowment supporting outstanding Extension Professors, the Philip Morris Agricultural Institute and Education Scholarships and the Philip Morris Extension Interns and Fellows program. In 2003, Philip Morris announced a major grant of $18 million to NC State for a project to map the tobacco genome.
Dr. Larry Sykes has served as President of the North Carolina Tobacco Foundation, Inc., where he has served as Chairman of the Investment Committee, and has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the NC State University Alumni Association and the CALS Capital Campaign. He was honored with Alumni Membership in Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honor Society of Agriculture. In 2004 he received a CALS Outstanding Alumnus Award.
Since 1999, Dr. Sykes has served as an Adjunct Professor in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department and has consulted regularly with faculty within the department concerning research and extension activities with particular emphasis on tobacco programs. He has also made important contributions to this department through a three year term of service on our Advisory Board beginning in 2003.Larry and Rita have endowed the Larry M. and Rita P. Sykes Scholarship to benefit students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University with priority given to those applicants from County.
2006 Award Recipient — Elijah J. (Jim) Tyson
Biographical
Elijah J. (Jim) Tyson was selected the 2006 Bio&Ag Outstanding Alumnus Award recipient. Dr. Young officiated at the September reception held at Weaver Labs. Many folks were on hand to recognize Tyson's contributions to the BAE Department, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 4-H, and NC State University in general. Tyson then attended a second reception which honored all the CALS department recipients. Tyson received plaques from CALS and Bio&Ag.
Tyson is a native of Union County, North Carolina. He attended NC State from 1953 until 1958 and graduated with a BS of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. He is a veteran of the Korean Conflict and spent his entire professional career (1958-1989) working for the Duke Power Company of Charlotte, NC, retiring as manager of the agricultural engineering division. A leader in the electric power industry he has effectively advanced the area of electrical application for agricultural production. Tyson has been a leader in the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), serving at the state and national levels. He contributed to committees and served in leadership roles, like chair of the NC Section. In 1987, he was named an ASABE “Fellow” an honor bestowed on few.
Jim is a significant supporter of NCSU and CALS and of youth programs, continuing his involvement in the 4-H Foundation and statewide 4-H activities. He was instrumental in starting Bio&Ag’s Student Activities Endowment Fund, and set-up the Elijah J. Tyson Scholarship Endowment Fund, and has designated a remainder trust for scholarship fund.
Jim’s name is etched on a plaque hanging in Weaver Labs that honors all Bio&Ag’s named outstanding alumni.
2005 Award Recipient — George Blum
Biographical
George Blum received his NCSU B. S. (1949) and MAE (1956) He started working for the Department in Jan.1950 - June1991 (41.5 yr.), 22 years as Undergraduate Teaching Coordinator.
Professor Blum is the most outstanding teacher and advisor in the history of the department, and was advisor to over 1900 students. He worked in the department for 41.5 years and was the Undergraduate Teaching Coordinator for 22 years. He was recognized with several outstanding teaching and outstanding advisor awards (see list of awards), including awards from CALS, COE, NC State University, NACTA and American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). Other special honors from students and former students were the dedication of the 1977 National Student Journal of ASAE to Professor Blum, and the establishment of a scholarship in BAE in his honor (Barbara and George Blum Scholarship).
Supporting statements from students for his nomination to various awards included recognition of traits like: sincerity, genuine concern, friendliness, professionalism, patient counsel, and motivational skills. Professor Blum had a very positive impact on many students as a teacher and advisor. You cannot find a better role model for teacher and advisor to students, as well as friend to other faculty and staff, and true promoter of the Bio&Ag department, CALS, and NC State University.
Elected to three three-year terms in the Academy of Outstanding Teachers (1969-71, 1975-77, 1979-81)
Honored by Dedication of the National Student Journal of ASAE (1977)
Elected Alumni Distinguished Professor for three years (1984-1987)
First Annual NACTA Merit Award for Teaching, CALS (1984)
Received NACTA Teacher Fellow Award (1987)
Received CALS Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award (1989-90)
Received College of Engineering “George H. Blessis Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Award (1989-90). “Given in Recognition of Efforts in Advising, Counseling and Mentoring Students and for Helping Establish the Reputation of NCSU as a Major University”
Received national ASAE Massey-Ferguson Educational Award (1992)
Elected to membership in Alpha Zeta (1968)
Elected to member of Golden Chain (1969)
Elected to membership in Alpha Epsilon (1970)
Elected to Honorary FFA State Farmer (1972)
Served two terms as CALS representative to the Faculty Senate
Scholarship established in BAE department in his honor (Barbara and George Blum Scholarship).
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