Suggs, Charles Wilson, 1928-

Born in 1928, Charles Wilson Suggs received his B.S.A.E. in 1949 and Ph.D. in 1959 from North Carolina State College (later North Carolina State University). He then joined the faculty. His research interests were tobacco mechanization and human-factors engineering. He developed one of the first mechanical tobacco leaf harvesters.

Charles Wilson Suggs was born in 1928. He received a B.S.A.E. in 1949 from North Carolina State College (later North Carolina State University). After working some years in industry, he returned for graduate studies. In 1959 he received the first Ph.D. awarded by the college's Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. He was then appointed to the faculty.

Suggs's research interests were mechanization, controls, and human factors engineering. He developed one of the first mechanical tobacco leaf harvesters, in particular the rubber leaf stripper. He and Robert W. Wilson were granted a United States patent on the leaf removal device, which eventually was used on most commercial manufactured harvesters in the United States.

Suggs's human-factors research focused on the influence of environmental factors on response, such as the influence of vibration and noise on equipment operators.

During the 1960s Suggs was involved in the university's Ford Foundation project to help strengthen post-graduate training and research at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, India. In 1967 he played a significant role in the establishment of the North Carolina Mu Chapter of Alpha Epsilon, the honor society of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASEA). After his retirement in the 1990s he was appointed professor emeritus.