MEET THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COMMITTEE!

John Eisenmann - Chair

Background – John grew up farming corn, soybeans, and wheat in East Central Illinois. Upon graduating from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural & Biological Engineering, he entered into the Engineering Rotational Development Program at Caterpillar. He is currently a Backhoe Loader Machine Development Engineer at the Peoria Proving Grounds.
ASABE Involvement – Member since 2002. As a preprofessional, John held offices at the chapter, regional, and national levels. He is a PEI member and is the current YPC Chair. He is also Chair of the P-120 Student Organizations Committee, member of the ED-416 Continuing Professional Development Committee, P-126 ¼ Scale Tractor Design Competition Committee, and the P-126 ¼ Scale Tractor Design Competition Rules Subcommittee. John is also the Vice Chair – Program for the Central Illinois Section.

Candice Johnson - Past Chair

Background – Candi grew up on a grain farm in central Iowa. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a BS in Biosystems Engineering in 2004.
ASABE Involvement – Candi has been a member of ASABE since 2000 and has served as a preprofessional officer at both the local and national levels. She is currently a member of P-120 Student Organizations, PM-54 Precision Agriculture, and PM-23/7/3 Cotton Engineering. Candi works for John Deere Intelligent Vehicle Systems as a Systems Engineer.

Carolyn Jones - Rep to Meetings Council

Background – Carolyn M. Jones is a licensed Agricultural and Civil Engineer for the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service in California completing projects in dairy waste management, irrigation water management, streambank bioengineering, and erosion and runoff control. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in agricultural and biological systems engineering from UC Davis. In her spare time she enjoys renovating her 1941 house, has become an avid knitter, works on her mom's 10-acre ranchette, goes camping, and spends time with her border collies.
ASABE Involvement – Carolyn has co-chaired the ASABE^100 competition, is the CA/NV Section '06-08 Vice Chair, and is a member of ED-414, SW-03, and SW-22.

Scott Dixon - Rep Standards Council

Background – Scott was born and raised in the rural countryside of north central IL. After attending community college Scott pursued a Bachelors and Masters in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois. Upon completion of his degrees Scott joined on with Caterpillar in the summer of 2006 and entered the Engineering Rotational Development Program working everywhere from Peoria, IL to Miami, FL. Starting in October, 2007 Scott started his permanent position in Tucson, AZ at Caterpillar's Tucson Proving Grounds. The focus of Scott's work will be dealing with control systems on Large Wheel Loaders used in the quarry, aggregate, and mining applications.
ASABE Involvement – Scott has been a member of ASABE since 2002 and has served as president of the University of Illinois Preprofessional branch and president of the Preprofessional Midwest Regional Section. Currently Scott is serving on the P-127 Robotics Student Design Competition committee and as representative to the Standards Council.

Naomi Uhlenhake - Rep to Publications Council

Background – Naomi grew up in rural southeastern Wisconsin. Graduating from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2005, she works at Resource Engineering Associates in Middleton, WI. Naomi works with farmers to develop comprehensive nutrient management plans, as well as designing manure storage basins and stormwater control structures.
ASABE Involvement – Naomi has been a member of ASABE since 2002 and has served on officer teams at the regional and local levels. She is currently serving on the Fountain Wars Competition committee and is active in the Wisconsin Section.

Becky Meyer – Membership Development Council Representative

Background – Becky is a city girl and grew up nowhere near a farm. She graduated from Oklahoma State University’s Biosystems Engineering department with a BS in 2000 and an MS in 2005. Becky has been working for CH2M HILL for 4 years as a Water Resource Engineer.
ASABE Involvement – Becky has been a member since 1998. Previously, she was involved with the Student Environmental Design competitions, chairing the P-121 committee. In addition to serving on the YPC Executive Committee, she is currently on the Nominating Committee and is involved with the Rocky Mountain Section.

Brady Lewis - Rep at Large

Background - Brady is from a small cattle and hay farm in Western Tennessee. He graduated in 2005 with a BS in Biosystems Engineering from the University of Tennessee. He received his Masters of Business Administration from Southwestern College in Kansas in 2007. Brady currently works for Case New Holland in Wichita, KS. There, he is a Design Engineer for the Skid Steer Loader and Compact Track Loader platforms.
ASABE Involvement - Brady has been an ASABE member since 2002. In college, he served as a pre-professional officer at the local, regional, and national level. He is a member of the P-120 Student Organizations, PM-46 Tractive & Transport Efficiency, and PM-54 Precision Agriculture Committees.

Joe Biggerstaff - Rep at Large

Background - Joe grew up on a farm in north central Oklahoma. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. Joe currently works for Case New Holland in Wichita, KS as a design engineer on skid steer loaders and compact track loaders.
ASABE Involvement - Joe has been a member of ASABE since 2002. As an undergraduate student, Joe was very active in the ¼ scale tractor competition. As a preprofessional, Joe held the office of parliamentarian at the local level. He is a member of the PM-46 Tractive & Transport Efficiency Committee.

Andy Lenkaitis - Rep at Large

Background - Being raised on a dairy farm near Chicago provided Andy with a passion for the dairy industry. The St. Charles native graduated from the University of Illinois with Bachelor of Sciences in Agriculture Engineering and Agricultural Sciences in 2005, as well as a Master of Science in Agriculture Engineering in 2007. He recently completed the Management and Leadership Development program within GEA WestfaliaSurge and is an Environmental Sales Engineer with GEA Houle, working out of Naperville, Illinois; both companies are members of GEA Farm Technologies.
ASABE Involvement - As a pre-professional member since 2002, Andy has held offices at the local and national level. Currently, he is involved with SE-403 Swine Housing, SE-404 Dairy Housing, the YPC and is serving as membership chair for the Chicago Section.

Cale Boriack - Rep at Large

Background - Cale was born and raised in South Central Texas where he grew crops and raised beef cattle. Cale graduated with a BS in Agricultural Engineering in 2003, and a MS in Biological and Agricultural Engineering in 2005, both from Texas A&M University. Cale works in food processing as a Project Engineering Technician for McCormick and Company, Inc.
ASABE Involvement - Cale has been a member of ASABE since 1999. As a preprofessional, Cale held offices at the local level and was involved in the 1/4 scale tractor competition. Cale has served on numerous committees including T-09 Environmental Quality Coordinating and PM-23/7/3 Cotton Engineering. Cale currently serves on the FPE-03 Standards group, IET-353 Instrumentation and Controls, and SE-305 Environment Air Quality committees.