Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Volga
Agricultural Engineering,
James S. Boyd worked with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service following his graduation from South Dakota State College. In 1942, he was a U.S. Navy Engineering Officer and became an SDSC Agricultural Engineering instructor in 1945. He began teaching at Michigan State University in 1947, and went on to earn an M.S. from Michigan State University in 1948 and a Ph.D in 1954 from Iowa State University. He developed a dynamic research program in all phases of structural requirements for farm buildings. His most notable work was in the development of new housing concepts for dairy cattle. Boyd was known nationally for the engineering extension programs he developed in Michigan to advance the agricultural construction industry in the Upper Midwest. He was a member of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, chairman of the Committee on Farm Fence Construction Standards, chairman of the Michigan Section of ASEE and a member of the Michigan Academy of Arts and Sciences.