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Eligibility
The competition is open to all graduate students who are members of ASABE and enrolled in a Biological/Agricultural Engineering or related degree program for at least four months during the year April 1 - April 1 prior to the competition. For example, students submitting entries to the 2010 competition must have been enrolled in a degree program for at least four months during the period April 1, 2009 to April 1, 2010.

The award consists of two competitions, one for M.S. research and one
for Ph.D. research.

Submitted research papers must report only the research done to complete the requirements for a graduate degree. It is understood that publication of this research will typically have co-authors (major professor, committee members). It is appropriate to recognize these co-authors in an acknowledgment, but they should not be listed as co-authors for the competition.

Simultaneous submission of the research paper as a manuscript for publication (at ASABE) and entry to the competition is encouraged.

Rules and Scoring for the Written Competition

1. Official Entry Form- Complete an official entry form. Microsoft Word. All Microsoft Word documents will need to be completed and converted to a PDF file. It is the entrant's responsibility to verify that the PDF file appears as intended. Free PDF converters are available, such as CutePDF Writer.

2. Organization of Paper - Students are advised to adhere to the following guidelines when preparing their research paper entries:

a. Organization of the research paper must conform to the guidelines published by ASABE for refereed journals. Access the following ASABE web page for information concerning Author's Guide and Journal Manuscript Submission & Format -
Author Guide

b. The entire research paper entry, including ALL figures, list of references and appendices, must not exceed 20 pages.

c. Some graphics (figures and tables) do not print or download well so students are encouraged to produce their graphics in black -and -white format.

3. Submit Title Page and Research Paper - Submit Entry Form and Research Paper electronically as a PDF file. It is the entrant's responsibility to verify that the converted file appears as intended. Send to the attention of Carol Flautt, ASABE Awards Administrator, at flautt@asabe.org no later than APRIL 1.



4. Scoring - Click one to see the judging criteria and allocation of points. Word--PDF

5. Panel of Judges - Three judges shall select a chair from among their number. The Chair will collect the scores from all judges, determine the top three papers by averaging the scores, and send the list to the ASABE Awards Administrator. These authors will be notified that they are among the top three papers and are accepted to compete in the oral portion of the competition to determine placements.

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Rules and Scoring for the Oral Competition 

1. Finalists - The three M.S. finalists and the three Ph.D. finalists will present their research before judges at a scheduled session during the ASABE Annual International Meeting. This session will be open to the public. The session will be chaired by the P-122 Chair, or his/her designee. Finalists will be allowed 15 minutes for the presentation. The chair may announce a short question and answer session at the end of each presentation to allow the presenter the opportunity to respond to one or two questions from the audience.

2. Scoring - Click on to see the judging criteria and allocation of points. Word--PDF


Final Ranking

The Chair of the Judges will average the scores for the written and oral competitions and submit the first, second, and third place winners to the Chair of P-122 and the Awards Administrator.

Judges

At the ASABE Annual International Meeting, the P-122 Boyd-Scott Graduate Research Award committee will select three judges for each competition (M.S. and Ph.D.) for the following year's competition. Diversity in research interest and geographic location is required.

A list of alternate judges will be maintained such that the Chair can replace a judge if they must disqualify themselves due to a conflict of interest. It is the responsibility of the Chair to coordinate with the membership and have a slate of nominees for judges who have agreed to serve. This slate is approved at the Annual Meeting for the next year's competition.

Judges may serve up to three consecutive years.

Judges must disqualify themselves from the evaluation of any paper submitted by a student from a university where the judge is employed as a faculty member, or any student they have supervised in employment or graduate work. In the case of a disqualification, the average of the scores by the remaining judges shall be the score assigned.

Submission Deadline

Date for submission of a research paper to this competition is advertised by ASABE after consultation with Boyd-Scott Graduate Research Award committee (P-122). This date may change to meet an administrative objective. Any scheduling change must be announced by ASABE at least six months prior to the submission date.

For the 2010 competition, all entries must be submitted via an email attachment as a PDF file to Carol Flautt (flautt@asabe.org) at ASABE HQ by April 1, 2010.

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