OSU's Sarah Cook Rowland awarded national fellowship
Monday, April 7, 2008
Sarah Cook Rowland
The purpose of the NSF Graduate Fellowship Program is to provide opportunities for outstanding graduate students to become knowledgeable experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching and innovations in science and engineering.
Rowland, a biosystems engineering major who has already completed the requirements for a minor in Spanish, has served the OSU department of biosystems and agricultural engineering as an interim student recruiter since January, in addition to her coursework responsibilities.
BAE department head Ron Elliott said his faculty and staff are extremely proud of Rowland being honored by the NSF.
“Sarah has contributed to our department in many ways, as a scholar, researcher, student leader, recruiter of prospective students and valued employee,” Elliott said. “Sarah is bright, creative and focused. She is a real joy to be around.”
As an OSU Lew Wentz Research Scholar, Rowland has been active in the redesign of a small-scale updraft gasifier for use in examining the potential of feedstocks on a laboratory scale, a key element of biofuel development. She has also been involved in a study that determined differences in milling qualities between genetically modified corn and conventional corn.
She served as team leader for a group of BAE students who designed and constructed a prototype of an automated vision inspection system for Lopez Foods Inc. of Oklahoma City.
Other research projects on which she has been a team member include an analysis of flow rates through various organic substances for use in bio-retention cells, a study examining the most efficient way to obtain pectin from watermelon rind and research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture determining the viability of harvesting salmon waste as a fuel source for small businesses in Alaska.
Rowland somehow manages to find time to also do her coursework; breed, market and sell Pembroke Welsh Corgi dogs; exhibit and market Suffolk, Hampshire and crossbreed lambs; and help her husband run their Morrison-based stocker cattle operation.
Originally from southeastern Oklahoma, the daughter of Randal and Susan Cook of Bokchito will not have far to travel upon entering graduate school. She will not even be leaving her home state. Rowland is staying at OSU and will be a graduate research assistant working on the development of cellulosic biofuels.
“Thanks to the NSF Graduate Fellowship, I’m going to be able to conduct my master’s thesis on a subject and at a university about which I’m passionate,” she said. “America must become more energy independent and do so in a way that is sustainable, cost effective and environmentally sound.”
A 2003 graduate of Rock Creek High School, Rowland is currently a Sam Noble Agriculture Scholar, Robert Byrd Scholar, Oklahoma State Regents Scholar and National Merit Scholar, in addition to being a Lew Wentz Research Scholar.
She is a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Alpha Epsilon, the honor society for agricultural engineers.
Rowland is the second OSU biosystems and agricultural engineering student in two years to be awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowship.
“That’s really incredible,” Elliott said. “It illustrates the quality of our students, as well as the excellent teaching and mentoring done by our faculty. We do our best to maintain a supportive environment in which all students can flourish.”
OSU alumna Elizabeth Casey, last year’s recipient, is currently pursuing a master’s degree in agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University.