Andy Carlson Receives 2022 Outstanding Alumni Award for the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

Andy Carlson, a 2007 South Dakota State University agricultural and biosystems engineering alum, was recently selected as the recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Alumnus award for the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

“It is a great honor to be selected as a recipient of this award,” said Carlson. “There are so many great alumni of the program, and I feel humbled to be included in the same group.”

The award is presented to SDSU alums that embody the five core values of SDSU, are actively engaged in their field, demonstrate outstanding professional excellence resulting in significant accomplishments, have three to ten years of cumulative experience in the field, and demonstrate service and commitment to SDSU.

“Andy made significant and outstanding contributions to the department for many years, and he continues to make impactful contributions for the benefit of our department,” said Muthu Muthukumarappan, Distinguished Professor and Interim Department head of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering. “We are honored and humbled to recognize him with the Outstanding Alumnus Award. It is a well-deserved recognition!”

Carlson’s path to a major in agricultural and biosystems engineering was not easy. According to Muthukumarappan, he had several majors before he decided to reflect on what classes he truly enjoyed the most. At the time, he was working for the South Dakota Soybean Processors and took an interest in the design and operation of agricultural processing and equipment. He realized that agricultural and biosystems engineering brought all his favorite things together, making it a perfect fit for him.

Carlson is the Plant Engineering Leader at Gevo, where he provides engineering expertise to the teams designing their Net-Zero 1 facility, works on site selection for future facilities and is currently developing the maintenance and reliability system as well as the environmental health and safety program.

According to Muthukumarappan, Carlson has made many contributions to the department over the years by speaking to students in different agricultural systems technology and agricultural and biosystems engineering courses, and participating as a member of the department advisory board.

“I enjoy helping improve the program by being a part of the department advisory board,” Carlson said. “I can provide meaningful contrastive feedback on the evolution of what is needed from new graduates to help them hit the ground running.”