This year, the Department of Engineering at the NSAC is treating the public to a slice of its past and a look into its future as part of Homecoming weekend.

The Department has organized a display entitled "Engineering at the NSAC - past, present and future" to be located in the lobby of the MacRae Library on the NSAC campus. It will run from Friday, October 20th throughout the weekend.

Dr. Alex Georgallas, curator of the display, is a professor in the Department of Engineering. "It is exciting to look in both directions - to the past and to the future - to see a path leading to a better world", says Dr. Georgallas.

The display will focus on three main topics: Alternative Energy and Biofuels; Precision Agriculture; and courses and programs offered by the Department of Engineering.

Alternative energy encompasses the use of biofuels, diversification, and cleaner, more efficient energy production. The goal is to satisfy growing energy demands with more sustainable methods that have less environmental impact. The Department of Engineering is recruiting a new faculty position with expertise in biofuels as it looks towards demands of the future.

Precision agriculture allows smarter, more environmentally-friendly farming by use of global positioning systems (GPS) and instruments like the soil nitrate testing and mapping system developed at NSAC. Dr. John Adsett, professor in the Department of Engineering, who designed and built the first prototype of this system, says "It was originally a monitoring system intended to adjust nitrogen fertilizer application rates as it was applied to the field. It has recently been renamed as a mapping system as part of another research initiative to field validate the system. This technology will play a key role in tomorrow's precision agriculture as farm managers use spatial information to optimize inputs, maximize profits, and protect the environment."