Rate My Professor Stuart Birrell

Stuart Birrell serves as Professor and Kinzie Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995, M.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the same university in 1987, and B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Republic of South Africa, in 1984. Birrell joined the faculty at Iowa State University in 1998, advancing to full Professor, and currently holds positions including Technical Lead at the Off-Highway Vehicle Chassis Dynamometer Lab and affiliation with the BioCentury Research Farm.

His research interests center on the development of sensors and controls applicable to advanced machinery control and precision agriculture, alongside harvest technologies for biomass harvesting and logistics. Specific efforts encompass real-time soil sensor systems for precision nitrogen applications using underground wireless networks to monitor moisture, temperature, and nitrogen; multifrequency dielectric sensing for hydraulic fluid condition monitoring; sensors based on dielectric measurements for soil analysis; industry-sponsored projects on combine harvesting; and systems for harvesting, handling, and densification of biomass to enhance field efficiency and reduce transportation costs. Birrell teaches several undergraduate courses in agricultural engineering and systems technology, including AE 340 Functional Analysis and Design of Agricultural Field Machinery, AE 342 Agricultural Tractor Power, TSM 330 Agricultural Machinery & Power Management, and TSM 335 Tractor Power. His scholarly contributions include publications such as "Science-based maize stover removal can be sustainable" (2021), "Dielectric Properties of Switchgrass and Corn Stover in the Radio Frequency Range" (2021), "Manual and ground penetrating radar field measurements of field-corn spacing, planting depth, and furrow feature identification" (2020), "A comprehensive survey of nondestructive sensing technologies for the detection of corn seeds in a closed trench and measuring planting depth to augment the conventional method" (2019), and "Ten-Year Assessment Encourages No-Till for Corn Grain and Stover Harvest" (2018). Additional research areas involve bioenergy feedstocks like corn stover and switchgrass, soil quality indicators, dielectric properties of biomass, ground penetrating radar for planting measurements, nondestructive sensing technologies, and soil nutrient sensing.