Shawn Ehlers
Shawn Ehlers is a doctoral student in the department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, where he also earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees. He is from southeastern Indiana where he is the sixth generation of his family’s grain farming operation. Shawn has worked as a mid-range mechanical development intern engineer at Cummins Engines in Columbus, IN., an instructor at Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette, IN., and a teaching and research assistant at Purdue University, all while maintaining active involvement in his family’s farming operation. Shawn’s current research focuses on agricultural safety and the implementation of assistive viewing technology. He is evaluating the effectiveness of assistive viewing devices, such as cameras, to increase visibility of the surrounding area of self-propelled agricultural equipment "primarily focusing on the area to the rear" for operators with and without impairments to their range of motion. Shawn’s research also entails the use of similar devices to monitor high risk locations such as confined spaces to assist in minimizing human exposure. A question & answer period will follow the presentation.