2024
2024 ASABE AETC Award
- Cole Byers, Second Place Oral Poster Competition
2024 Beltwide Cotton Conference Awards
- Cole Byers (left in photo), First Place, Cotton Engineering Systems, Graduate Student Oral Competition
- Mohit Kumar (right in photo), Second Place, Agronomy, Physiology and Soils, MS Poster Competition
2023
2023 ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting Award Winners
- Amrit Pokhrel was awarded first place in the Precision Ag Systems Graduate Student Oral Competition (on the left in the photo).
- Cole Byers was awarded third place in the Precision Ag Systems Graduate Student Oral Competition (in the photo on the right).
Digital Ag Team Honored with UGA-Tifton Campus Awards for Excellence
- Junior Scientist Award of Excellence: Simerjeet Virk
- Technical Support – Senior Award of Excellence: John Paulk
Mr. Paulk is a shop manager for the Precision Agriculture Shop and provides valuable support to the Precision Ag Faculty on UGA Tifton Campus including Dr. Virk and the Digital Ag Program. - Graduate Student, M.S. Award of Excellence: Coleman Byers
Byers Selected for 2023 Gateway to Ag Careers Program
Cole Byers was selected as one of 10 outstanding students to participate in the 2023 Gateway To Ag Careers Program (GTAC) at the AgGateway Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
The AgGateway Annual Conference provides participants with access to professionals from every segment of the industry, allowing discussion and explorations of agriculture careers and areas of interest from an inside perspective.
Byers Receives ASABE Presentation Excellence Award
Cole Byers was selected as one of the recipients of the Presentation Excellence Award for his outstanding presentation at the ASABE’s 2023 Annual International Meeting.
This award recognizes the top 15% of student presentations that demonstrate excellence in content, delivery, and impact.
Tucker Places 2nd in Poster Competition
Matt Tucker was awarded 2nd place in the M.S. poster competition at the annual APRES meeting in Savannah, Georgia.
Ag Tech Educator/Researcher of the Year
Dr. Simer Virk was was recently presented with a CropLife Ag Tech Award of Excellence for his role in helping agriculture realize the full benefits of technology to improve agronomy, efficiency and stewardship in crop production.
ASABE Outstanding Reviewer
Dr. Simer Virk was recognized as an Outstanding Reviewer in the Machinery Systems Technical Community at the annual ASABE meeting held in Omaha, Nebraska.
Reviewers of ASABE’s peer-reviewed journals spend many hours evaluating author manuscripts and making suggestions for improvements. The reviewer recognition program honors up to 21 outstanding reviewers each year. Given that hundreds of reviewers participate each year in our peer-review process, this is a significant honor.
ASABE Blue Ribbon Award
An Extension publication “Pulse Width Modulation Technology for Agricultural Sprayers” authored by Dr. Simer Virk and graduate student Ravi Meena, received an Education Aids Blue Ribbon Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
Integrative Precision Ag Conference Poster Competition
M.S. Competition
- 2nd: Coleman Byers (advisor: Dr. Virk)
Grad Students Awarded at 2023 Beltwide Cotton Conference
Agronomy, Physiology, and Soils
- 2nd: Matt Tucker (advisor: Dr. Virk)
Cotton Engineering Systems
- 3rd: Amrit Pokhrel (advisors: Dr. Virk & Dr. John Snider)
The winning students are (l-r): Matt Tucker & Amrit Pokhrel.
2022
Grad Students Triumph at 2022 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting
Precision Ag Systems MS Oral Competition
- 1st: Amrit Pokhrel (co-advisors: Dr. Virk and Dr. Snider)
- 2nd: Matt Tucker (advisor: Dr. Virk)
- 3rd: Madan Sapkota (advisor: Dr. Virk)
Precision Ag Systems MS Poster Competition
- 1st: Madan Sapkota (advisor: Dr. Virk)
- 2nd: Michael Goodnight (advisor: Dr. Virk)
- 3rd: Matt Tucker (advisor: Dr. Virk)
The winning students are (l-r): Madan Sapkota, Matt Tucker, Dr. Simer Virk, Michael Goodnight, & Amrit Pokhrel.
Virk Receives Extension Honors
Simer Virk, Assistant Professor & Extension Precision Ag Specialist, received the Junior Extension Specialist award from the Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents at their annual meeting held in November in Dalton, Georgia.
Additionally, Dr. Virk’s blog, UGA Precision Ag Extension Blog, was selected as the winner of the Educational and Outreach Material Awards in the Digital Communications category at this year’s American Society of Agronomy (ASA) meeting.
The Educational and Outreach Material Awards are presented by the Extension Education community of the American Society of Agronomy.
Sapkota Awarded 2nd Place
Madan Sapkota placed 2nd in the Graduate Student Poster Competition at the 2022 Annual APRES Meeting in Dallas, TX
Tucker & Pokhrel Named Outstanding Students
Matt Tucker and Amrit Pokhrel were recognized as Outstanding Graduate Students by International Society of Precision Ag at the 2022 International Conference on Precision Agriculture.
Virk Named Outstanding Reviewer
Simer Virk received an Outstanding Reviewer award from American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers at the Annual International Meeting in Houston, TX.
Virk Named Precision Ag Researcher of the Year
Simer Virk was named the Precision Ag Researcher of the Year at the National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference in Jonesboro, AR.
Senior Design Capstone Team Wins Award
UGA College of Engineering Senior Design Capstone Team advised by Dr. Virk won the Innovative Computerized System of Software Design award at the 2022 COE Capstone Showcase.
Weekley Takes 2nd Place
Madison Weekley, CAES Young Scholar on UGA Tifton campus, and advised by Drs. Virk and Tucker, won second place in the UGA Tifton Young Scholar Poster Competition.