COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Gerald Lee Riskowski has been named head of the department of biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M University.
The department is jointly administered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M.
“Gerald Riskowski is the right person at the right time’ to lead the department to even greater heights in serving our students and clientele, and in furthering our goal of being the best as viewed by our peers and those we serve,” said Dr. Edward Hiler, Texas A&M vice chancellor and dean for agriculture and life sciences. “I look forward to his leadership in the coming years.”
Riskowski’s appointment was effective Jan. 2. He succeeds former department head Dr. James Gilley, who will return to teaching full time.
“The department of biological and agricultural engineering is consistently ranked the top program in the nation by U.S. News and World Report,” said Dr. C. Roland Haden, Texas A&M vice chancellor and dean of engineering. “We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Riskowski lead the department in its quest for continued excellence.”
Riskowski comes to Texas A&M from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has taught since 1986. Before that time, he was a design engineer for Lesters Buildings in Lester Prairie, Minn., and later Wick Building Systems in Mazomanie, Wis. He also worked as an instructor and extension engineer at Iowa State University.
Riskowski is a member of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers; the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers; the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science and several national honor societies. He is a registered professional engineer in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
He received the ASAE Henry Giese Award in 2001 and was named an ASAE Outstanding Reviewer in 1994. He has received numerous honors from the society for his technical publications including an Outstanding Paper Award in 1994 and Superior Paper Awards in 2000 and 2001. In 1998, Riskowski was inducted into the Rural Builders Hall of Fame and in 2001 received two ASHRAE Technical/Symposium Paper Awards.
Riskowski earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Nebraska and a doctorate from Iowa State University, all in agricultural engineering.
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