Auburn University’s Department of Biosystems Engineering (BSEN) was hard to miss at the 2024 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting recently held in Anaheim, California.
And hard to beat.
Auburn was represented at the meeting by 42 faculty members and graduate students — the largest Auburn contingent ever — and, once again, brought home multiple honors.
Associate professor Brendan Higgins received the New Holland Young Researcher Award, a major ASABE recognition honoring members under 40 for “outstanding contributions to the advancement of the profession.” Higgins also received the Outstanding Associate Editor award for his work in ASABE peer-reviewed journals, while associate professor Simer Virk was recognized as an Outstanding Manuscript Reviewer.
Student research was also in the spotlight. Kritika Maholtra, who recently earned both a master’s and Ph.D. from Auburn, along with her advisor, associate professor Jasmeet Lamba, received a Superior Paper Award in the Natural Resources and Environmental Systems division. Lamba also earned first place in the Boyd-Scott Graduate Research Award along with recent master’s graduate Preetika Kaur.
Graduate students Rachel Day, Noor Fatima, Vivian Usha and Raziyeh Jokar, under the guidance of professor Sushil Adhikari, director of the Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts, and assistant professor Hossein Jahromi, took second place in the Bioprocess startup competition.
Master’s student Ayden Kemp, who in 2023 was named both a Goldwater Scholar and Astronaut Scholar, didn’t need another honor to stand out. But he got it. Advised by Adhikari, Kemp, who recently earned a bachelor’s degree from Auburn in biosystems engineering and is on track for the same in aerospace engineering in 2025, clinched first place in the K.K. Barnes Student Paper Award for undergraduate students.
But he’s equally proud of the superlative bestowed upon the Auburn Chapter of the honor society for agricultural and biological engineering, Alpha Epsilon, which primarily focuses on promoting professional development for members and community service.
The Delta Beta chapter was named Most Outstanding in the nation.
“This award reflects the effort that the current leadership team — Vivian Usha, Al Dean Francisco and Maddie Spoor — has put into making this organization the best it can be,” said Kemp, who serves as the chapter’s president. “We have made plans for service on campus through stream clean-up events for Parkerson Mill Creek and by sponsoring FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) exam review sessions within the department. It’s great that the department is receiving this kind of recognition for the wonderful work that students are doing.”
Oladiran Fasina, biosystems engineering department head, agrees.
“I am immensely proud of the achievements of our faculty and students,” Fasina said. “This is one of our most impressive ASABE annual meeting showings in the 22 years that I’ve been here. It’s testament to the department’s dedication to research, education, and innovation in biosystems engineering.”
