Three Join Arkansas Academy of Biological and Agricultural Engineers

Three alumni of the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department were honored and inducted into the Arkansas Academy of Biological and Agricultural Engineers on April 14.

The 2022 inductees were Harvey Williams B.S.B.E 1992; Nate Jones B.S.B.E. 2010, Ph.D. 2015; and Michael May B.S.B.E. 2010, M.S.B.E. 2014, M.D. 2018.

Williams grew up farming in Lee and Phillips counties in Arkansas. He earned a degree in biological and agricultural engineering from the U of A and went on to have a very successful 30-year career in the food industry. He and his wife, Donna, raised three children in homes all across the country and now run Delta Dirt Distillery in Helena. Their goal always was to stay connected to their fourth-generation family farm and one day return to their home state. The idea of starting a distillery checked the boxes in terms of building a business rooted in a deep history of family and farm. Williams chose sweet potatoes to craft a world-class vodka, thus the birthing of Delta Dirt Distillery. He and Donna have made personal commitments to themselves and their community for “raising spirits” in the Delta.

Jones is an assistant professor of ecohydrology at the University of Alabama. He received his B.S. in biological engineering from the U of A in 2010 and his Ph.D. in biological systems engineering from Virginia Tech in 2015. Jones went on to hold interdisciplinary postdoctoral research positions at Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, and he started his current tenure-track faculty position in The Center for Freshwater Studies at the University of Alabama in 2019. Jones’ teaching and research programs focus on hydrologic connectivity and its impact on downstream waters, ecological engineering solutions for stream and wetland restoration, and rural drinking water resources. Jones has served as the primary mentor for five graduate students, and he regularly teaches courses in spatial analysis, ecohydrology and ecology. He has authored or co-authored 33 peer-reviewed manuscripts in interdisciplinary journals such as Nature Sustainability and discipline-specific journals, such as the Journal of American Water Resources Association. Jones and his collaborators have raised over $10.9 million dollars in extramural funding from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Jones received the American Water Resource Association’s Boggess Award in 2020, Ph.D. student of the year from Virginia Tech in Biological Systems Engineering in 2015 and Undergrad Student of the Year from the U of A Department of Biological Engineering in 2010.

Dr. Michael May is a family medicine physician working for the Medical Associates for Northwest Arkansas. May received his bachelor’s degree in biological engineering in 2010. He then completed an M.S. in biomedical engineering in 2014. He completed his M.D. from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 2018, followed by a residency at UAMS South Central Family Medicine in Pine Bluff in 2021.

May is a member of the American Medical Society and the American Academy of Family Physicians since 2018. As an undergraduate, he was on the team that won third place in the ASABE Gunlogson Design Competition in 2010. He served in leadership positions as the resident chair of the UAMS South Central Family Medicine Residency Didactics Committee in 2020 and has been a member since 2019. He was the vice president of recruitment in 2007, Community Service/Philanthropy chair in 2007 and 2008, IFC delegate in 2007 and 2008, director of new member education in 2008, historian and total member educator in 2009 for the Farmhouse Fraternity. May was the philanthropy chair in 2009 for the U of A Inter-Fraternity Council, vice-president of the State 4-H Northeast District in 2007 and a volunteer camp counselor at the Arkansas State 4-H Camp in 2004 – 2007. May also provided valuable community service as health clinic volunteer at the Northwest Arkansas Free Health Clinic in Fayetteville from May 2008 – August 2012, and provided sports physicals at Watson Chapel Public Schools in 2018 and 2020, Dollarway Public Schools in 2019, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Athletic Department in 2019.