UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Jeffrey Hyde, assistant professor of agricultural economics in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has received the 2003 Roy C. Buck Faculty Award in the Agricultural Sciences for his article, "Investing in a Robotic Milking System: A Monte Carlo Simulation Analysis," which he co-authored with Phoebe Engle.

Buck endowed the award to honor the best refereed article published in a scholarly journal in the previous two years by an untenured faculty member in the college whose research involves the social or human sciences. Hyde's article appeared in the Journal of Dairy Science in 2002.

"Hyde's piece brings a fresh perspective to evaluations of robotic milking systems," says Bruce McPheron, associate dean for research in the college. "He and Engle use simulation methods to calculate the break-even value of a robotic system on the typical American dairy farm. Their research is valuable for dairy farmers, so it's a great example of the kind of research the award was created to encourage."

Hyde's research focuses on factors affecting profitability and efficiency on dairy farms in Pennsylvania and the Northeast. He also maintains an extension program focusing on farm business management and entrepreneurship, including financial management, farm record keeping and technology adoption.

More recent journal publications by Hyde include "Optimal Investment in an Automatic Milking System: An Application of Real Options," which he co-authored with Jeffrey Stokes and Engel in the 2003 edition of Agricultural Finance Review; and "Estimating Dynamic Relationships Between Pork Advertising and Revenues," which he co-authored with K. Foster in the 2003 Review of Agricultural Economics. Hyde received a bachelor's degree in economics from Frostburg State University, and master's and doctoral degrees in agricultural economics from Purdue University.

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EDITORS: Contact Jeffrey Hyde at 814-865-5666 or by e-mail at jeffhyde@psu.edu.

Writer/Editor: Gary Abdullah Office 814-863-2708 FAX 814-863-9877