Recent U of A Engineering Grads Take Home Two First-Place Awards at International Conference

The Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the U of A earned two first-place undergraduate awards in July at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers International Meeting in Indianapolis.

The wins are a testament to the hands-on research and design work the department fosters, tackling real industry problems alongside faculty mentors.

Both winning projects were the work of students who walked across the graduation stage this May, proof that the ideas and effort they poured into their coursework continue to pay off after commencement.

First Place: K.K. Barnes Student Paper Competition

The K.K. Barnes Student Paper Competition invites the top three undergraduate technical papers in agricultural, food and biological engineering to present their work in an oral competition at the annual international meeting. This year, recent graduate Sam Vinson took first place for his paper on cross-facility beef marbling assessment using unsupervised domain adaptation, earning a $500 cash prize.

Vinson's research tackled a problem that has long limited the use of computer vision in the meat industry: models trained to grade beef marbling at one processing facility often lose accuracy when applied at another. His work is the first in beef grading research to directly address that cross-facility reliability gap.

Improving cross-facility reliability is an important step toward implementing computer vision systems that support consistent quality assessment across the $161.1 billion U.S. retail beef industry.

Vinson credits Dongyi Wang, an assistant professor in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, along with the USDA and the U of A Honors College, for supporting his research.

First Place: AGCO National Student Design Competition

The department also claimed first place in the AGCO National Student Design Competition for a year-long team project that developed a low-cost automated system to remove the stems and leaves from strawberries.

The system combines computer vision, motion control and industrial safety systems to automate a labor-intensive food processing task for small-scale processors who typically can't afford large industrial equipment.

The design team included four May 2026 graduates: Kayla King, Jabe Lovett, Alex Salonen and Sam Vinson. Vinson and Salonen represented the team on-site at the meeting, presenting the group's work.

Along with first-place honors, the team earned a $1,250 cash prize. They credit the Arkansas Food Innovation Center at Market Center of the Ozarks for sponsoring and supporting the project from concept through prototype.

A Department That Prepares Students to Make an Impact

Two first-place awards earned by students who developed their projects while at the U of A reflect the caliber of mentorship, hands-on research opportunity and design experience built into the department's curriculum.

"These aren't small wins," department head Terry Howell Jr. said. "They were competing against students and teams from the best programs in our profession. It reflects the caliber of students we recruit and our commitment to give them resources to thrive. I am proud of the students and their mentors for the wins. They are amazing representatives of our department, college and university."

Howell said it's that combination of rigorous coursework, dedicated faculty mentorship and the opportunity to pursue research as undergraduates that sets the department apart. A U of A biological engineering degree, he said, doesn't just prepare students for a job. It equips them with the skills to tackle real-world industry challenges and make a positive impact from day one.