Dr. David B. Beasley selected as new dean of College of Engineering

August 3, 2009 -- Arkansas State University-Jonesboro announces the selection of Dr. David B. Beasley as the new dean of the College of Engineering. Dr. Beasley comes to ASU-Jonesboro from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N. C., where he recently served as professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. Dr. Beasley assumes his new duties on Monday, August 17.

Dr. Robert L. Potts, chancellor of ASU-Jonesboro, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Beasley to the ASU community as dean of the College of Engineering. His impressive education and vast experience, coupled with his Arkansas roots, will serve the college and the university very well.” 

Dr. G. Daniel Howard, executive vice chancellor and provost at ASU-Jonesboro, stated, "Arkansas State University is extremely fortunate that Dr. David Beasley will be serving as dean of the College of Engineering, since he brings with him an extraordinary background and high levels of motivation that will help the college to obtain prominence with its academic programs and research agenda."

From November of 1991 through June of 1999, Dr. Beasley served as head of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at NC State. From 1988-1991, Dr. Beasley was the head of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Georgia's Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton. Prior to that, he was a member of the faculty at Purdue University from 1978 to 1988 and the University of Arkansas from 1977 to 1978.

Born in Ithaca, New York, Dr. Beasley grew up on a farm in eastern Arkansas, near Hughes in St. Francis County. Dr. Beasley earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from Purdue University, in 1977, specializing in nonpoint source pollution monitoring and modeling. He earned his M.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering from Mississippi State University, in 1973, and his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Mississippi State University in 1971.

Dr. Beasley's current research interests flow from and are a broadening of his earlier work at Purdue, Arkansas, and Georgia. Specifically, he is interested in investigating processes and emissions of various pollutants (gaseous and particulate) from confined animal production systems and in studying and simulating the mechanisms of pollutant movement (sediment and chemicals) in agricultural ecosystems. He developed the ANSWERS (Areal Nonpoint Source Watershed Environment Response Simulation) water quality model as a direct result of his doctoral work at Purdue. Used throughout the world, the ANSWERS water quality model has been used to better understand and plan for improvements in water and natural resource systems.

Other research interests of Dr. Beasley's include utilizing deterministic modeling technology combined with remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems  to make better and faster estimates of nonpoint source pollution yields from areas ranging from the size of fields to river basins; evaluating interactions between soil erosion and soil productivity; assessing various treatment and management strategies for dealing with nonpoint source pollution; and investigating the use of advanced computer systems and data manipulation techniques to better transfer the technology that is being developed.

Dr. Beasley was an evaluator for 8 years with ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, the 75-year-old national accrediting organization for engineering, technology, computer science and applied science.  He also served as a liaison between the American Society for Agricultural Engineers and the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying for two years. He has been a member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission  of ABET since 2002 and is currently serving on the executive committee as chair of the criteria committee, and he is a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

Among Dr. Beasley’s honors and awards are his listing in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering and Who’s Who in the South and Southwest; his 2005 election to the Arkansas Academy of Biological and Agricultural Engineers; his being named "Distinguished Engineering Fellow" of the College of Engineering at Mississippi State University in 2002, and his 2001 Outstanding Alumni Award from the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at Purdue University. He has also served since 1994 as a proposal evaluator and panel chair for the Louisiana Board of Regents’ Louisiana Educational Quality Support Fund. This funding program provides support for enhancing the state’s engineering and agriculture programs. He has also participated in many international scientific exchange programs in Australia, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Oman, Italy, Spain, Trinidad, Canada, and South Korea from 1984 to the present.

Dr. Beasley says, “I am proud and excited to be asked to lead the College of Engineering at Arkansas State as it increases its research and graduate education efforts and moves to accredit undergraduate programs in civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering.”  

###