Innovations in Micro Irrigation Technology

Megh R. Goyal, PhD, PE , is a retired professor in agricultural and biomedical engineering from the General Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus; and senior acquisitions editor and senior technical editor-in-chief in agriculture and biomedical engineering for Apple Academic Press Inc. He received his BSc in engineering in 1971 from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India; his MSc in 1977 and PhD in 1979 from the Ohio State University, Columbus; and his master of divinity in 2001 from Puerto Rico Evangelical Seminary, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, USA. He spent one-year sabbatical leave in 2002-2003 at the Biomedical Engineering Department at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, USA. Since 1971, he has worked as soil conservation inspector (1971); research assistant at Haryana Agricultural University (1972-75) and Ohio State University (1975-79); research agricultural engineer/professor at the Department of Agricultural Engineering of UPRM (1979-1997); and professor in agricultural and biomedical engineering in the General Engineering Department of UPRM (1997-2012).He was first agricultural engineer to receive the professional license in Agricultural Engineering in 1986 from College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico. On September 16, 2005, he was proclaimed as Father of Irrigation Engineering in Puerto Rico for the twentieth century by the ASABE, Puerto Rico Section, for his pioneer work on micro irrigation, evapotranspiration, agroclimatology, and soil and water engineering. During his professional career of 45 years, he has received awards such as Scientist of the Year, Blue Ribbon Extension Award, Research Paper Award, Nolan Mitchell Young Extension Worker Award, Agricultural Engineer of the Year, Citations by Mayors of Juana Diaz and Ponce, Membership Grand Prize for ASAE Campaign, Felix Castro Rodriguez Academic Excellence, Rashtrya Ratan A