07/19/2010

Johnson Receives John Deere Gold Medal Award from ASABE

AUBURN, Ala.—Clarence Johnson, professor emeritus of the Department of Biosystems Engineering at Auburn University, recently received the John Deere Gold Medal Award at the 2010 annual international meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. One of ASABE’s most prestigious awards, the John Deere Gold Medal Award honors distinguished engineering achievements in the application of science and art to the soil.

Johnson was selected for the award in recognition of his superior contributions to agricultural engineering through research accomplishments, excellence in teaching and leadership contributions to ASABE.

Along with colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, Johnson gained worldwide respect for pioneering research in soil dynamics, including soil behavior and compaction, tillage operations and traction. His research focused on developing methods for computer stimulation of soil-machine interactions and resulted in a mathematical model of soil compaction behavior known as the NSDL-AU Soil Compactions Model. He also developed unique experimental methods and analysis techniques that were useful in the study of traffic-induced soil compaction, and he created new and improved design concepts for various types of agricultural equipment. Johnson’s international publications on prescription tillage and agricultural machinery control systems impacted the concepts that eventually led to precision farming.

“Johnson and his colleagues at the NSDL worked to understand the fundamentals of how machines and soils interact,” said Steve Taylor, professor and department head of biosystems engineering. “Through their pioneering research efforts, they changed our understanding of tillage equipment and traction from an art to a science so that engineers could study soil-machine interactions scientifically.”

Johnson made major contributions to agricultural engineering through teaching agricultural engineering and engineering mechanics courses. He taught engineering courses at Iowa State University (where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees), South Dakota State University and Auburn University for more than 35 years until his retirement in 1998. He received four Outstanding Engineering Faculty teaching awards from Auburn.

A member of ASABE for 41 years, Johnson served in leadership positions within the Society on numerous Power and Machinery division committees and in the Society's North Central region and Alabama section. He received awards from ASABE that included three Paper awards and an Alabama Section Distinguished Engineer award. He served in leadership positions in the Auburn Chapter of the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers and is a member of five honorary societies.

Johnson was named a Fellow in the ASABE in 2000. Only about two percent of the active ASABE members are eligible to be a Fellow. The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers is a 9,000-member professional and technical organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food and biological systems.

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