Support the CU-CAT Excellence Fund

If CU-CAT Events has helped you connect with agricultural technology programs, a gift to the CU-CAT Excellence Fund helps support future events, Extension, educational opportunities, and practical resources.

Give to the CU-CAT Excellence Fund
Email
Past Event

4th Annual
Clemson Ag Tech Spotlight Event

SEPT 23 2025 | Watt Center | Clemson University

Keynote Speaker

Josey Peele

Josey Peele

Senior Engineer, AMADAS Industries
Keynote | 1:00-1:20 PM

Practical insights on engineering innovation in harvest systems, industry-university collaboration, and how technology is reshaping on-farm efficiency and reliability.

Event Details

Free Event | Posters | Demos | Keynote | Door Prizes | Networking

When
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Where
Watt Center Clemson University, Clemson, SC
What
Agricultural innovation featuring posters, hands-on demonstrations, a keynote, networking, and door prizes.

Event Schedule

1:00-1:20 PM
Welcome and keynote: Josey Peele, Senior Engineer, AMADAS Industries
1:20-3:20 PM
Ag Tech Posters and Demos in the Atrium and on the Lawn
3:20-3:30 PM
Door Prize Drawings
4:30-6:30 PM
Invite-Only Career Networking Reception

Scenes from the Previous Year's Spotlight Event

A look back at the energy, innovation, and connections from the previous event.

Photo collage from a previous Clemson Ag Tech Spotlight Event.

2025 Presentations

  • Navigating digital information: How the agricultural industry engages with social media. Virginia Wayt, Aaron Turner, Kendall Kirk, and Dave Lamie.
  • Getting to the bottom of feed efficiency in beef cattle. Lexie Cornett, Hailey Stroble, and Susan Duckett.
  • Crop production and variety testing research equipment. Cole Clyne, Alex Coleman, Kevin Johnson, Jeff McCall, and Kyle Stephens.
  • Clemson Extension Center Pivot Irrigation Test (CPIT) program. Charly Greenthaler, Katie Collins, and Molly Jones.
  • AgriView: An AI image analysis platform for agriculture. Dan Anco, Hope Becton, Sai Dasari, Benjamin Fogle, Kendall Kirk, Joe Laforest, Trey McAlhany, and Fleming McMaster.
  • Bag palletizer robot (Supported by Mixon Seed Service and Premium Peanut). Jace Koehn, Devin Bowling, JT Laney, Aaron Turner, Bulent Koc, and Jacob Breland.
  • A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of phosphate test kits and laser induced graphene (LIG) orthophosphate sensor. Quintino Medi, Eric S. McLamore, and Michael Carbajales-Dale.
  • Adoption of conservation practices among peanut producers in the southeastern United States. Zuyi Wang, Nathan Smith, Felipe De Figueiredo Silva, Anastasia Thayer and Michael Vassalos.
  • Agronomic and nutritive value responses of cool-season forage mixtures managed under rotational stocking. Daniela Rodriguez, Jacob Adkison, Katie Seavey, Sarala Giri, Carlos Garcia, Matias Aguerre, Leanne Dillard, and Liliane Silva.
  • GIS applications for agricultural management. Kevin Royal.
  • Modeling silvopasture soil profiles to predict long-term soil moisture dynamics, water flow, and fluxes across varying depths. Gafar Agunbiade, Debabrata Sahoo, Qiong Su, Lydia O'halloran, Lilliane Silva, and Hannah Malcomson.
  • Micro-watershed management and modelling: A case study of the Hunnicutt Creek. Abdulgafar Badrudeen, Debabrata Sahoo, Calvin Sawyer, and Jeremy Pike.
  • STEM in Action: Connecting agriscience programs with research, industry, and outreach practices in hydroponics. Rustie Robison, Leila Bowen, James Faust, and Catherine DiBenedetto.
  • Catchment specific controls on streamflow simulation in multi-model hydrological assessments. Kunal Bhardwaj, Prakash Khedun, and Ashok Mishra.
  • Image-based monitoring of okra growth with Large Language Model assistance. Umme Kawsar Alam, Yalun Jiang, Daniel Greco, Luke Hargrove, Shanmugam Aravindan, Sivakumar Sukumaran, Stephen Kresovich, and Javad Mohammadpour Velni.
  • Rain or shine, school is in session: A mixed methods study of the creation and implementation of a weather and climate science curriculum in South Carolina K-12 schools, 4-H and agricultural education programs. Lauren Hood, K. Dale Layfield, Christopher J. Eck, Joseph L. Donaldson, Qiong Su, and Michael Plumblee.
  • NeuralFAO56: A farmer-focused precision agriculture tool for accurate crop water needs and efficient irrigation. Adarsha Neupane and Vidya Samadi.
  • Exploring data innovation for agricultural efficiency and sustainability. Will Horn.
  • Clemson Ag Mech Club cut-away tractor. Hunter Massey, Michael Masters, Shelley Lovern, and Rachel Knoblauch.
  • Sensors and controls exploration station: An interactive STEM learning tool. Shelby Strickland, Emma Radford, Benjamin Fogle, Alex Samenko, Kevin Royal, and Kendall Kirk.
  • An adaptive coverage control approach for multiple autonomous off-road vehicles in dynamic agricultural fields. Sajad Ahmadi, Mohammadreza Davoodi, and Javad Mohammadpour Velni.
  • Bacterial contamination and surface hygiene in the microbrewery environment. Alex Thompson, Paul Dawson, and Julie Northcutt.
  • Educating stakeholders on the science of agricultural testing. Michael Atkins and Shannon Alford.
  • A soft gripper prototyping and companion imaging system for crop harvesting. Yalun Jiang and Javad Mohammadpour Velni.
  • Peanut yield loss modeling and peanut digger blade wear investigation. Alex Samenko, John Wagner, Dan Anco, Aaron Turner, and Kendall Kirk.
  • Targeted/non-targeted pesticide residues analysis: A regulatory perspective and technological advancements in the science of residue analysis. Xiaoxia (Penny) Xia, Tyler McIntosh, Timothy Drake, and Shannon Alford.
  • AGM Capstone: Variable depth biomass sampler. Jacob Breland, Mason Nobels, and Jackson Solomons. Advisor: Bulent Koc.
  • Root decomposition and nutrient release in warm-season annual forage mixtures under rotational grazing. Luana Zagato, Carlos Garcia, Jacob Adkison, Katie Seavey, John Andrae, Matias Aguerre, Erick Santos, and Liliane Silva.
  • Intelligent River technology for well and water quantity monitoring. Christopher Post, Syed Ovais, Elena Mikhailova, Gannon Kepley, Jake Williams, Hayden Jones, and Chuck Cook.
  • A web app to combat harmful algal blooms in livestock ponds, by linking farmers, agents, and experts. Ibrahim Busari, Debabrata Sahoo, Kendall Kirk, Heather Nix, John Hains, and Franklin Ott McAlhany III.
  • CUltivate Ag Podcast. Kevin Royal, Hannah Mikell, and Trey McAlhany.
  • Revealing the plasticization effect of PHBV on Chitosan in polymer blends via atomistic simulations. Ji Yang and Zhaoxu Meng.
  • AGM Capstone: Yield mapping and evaluation of peach production. Hayes Hudson, Ramsey Norris, and Martha Robinson. Advisor: Aaron Turner.
  • Measuring cotton picker spindle wear and yield loss effects. Ross Anderson, Kendall Kirk, Jordan King, Jeff Plumblee, Ben Fogle, and Mark Lassiter.
  • FarmGate reports for South Carolina fruits and vegetables. Kevin Burkett, Clemson Extension Horticulture Food Crop Team, Rowan Barnes, and Grant Parker.
  • Vine copula modeling to analyze compound droughts in Southeastern U.S. Suman Dhamala, C. Prakash Khedun, and Ashok Mishra.
  • Simulating the effect of field soil types on uniform and variable irrigation scheduling using FAO-56 single and dual crop coefficient models in center-pivot irrigated cotton fields in South Carolina. Javad Alavi, Jose Payero, and Tom Owino.
  • Evaluating U.S. consumer preferences for packaged vs. unpackaged heritage crops: A case study on apples and tomatoes. Sunday Ojibo Peter, Yefan Nian, Dave Lamie, and Michael Vassalos.
  • Automation development of an intelligent irrigation-fertigation system for a center pivot. Javad Alavi, Jose Payero, and Tom Owino.
  • Biomass estimation in forages using IMU sensor. Jasanmol Singh, A. Bulent Koc, Matias J. Aguerre, and John P. Chastain.
  • Nitrogen fertilization strategies responses on forage mass, nutritive value, and soil gas emissions of cool-season forage system. Carlos Garcia, Daniel Adkinson, Luana Zagato, Sarala Giri, and Liliane Silva.
  • Remote sensing and machine learning approaches for harmful algal bloom prediction. Jyoti Neupane, Debabrata Sahoo, and Sarah Waickowski.
  • Wheeled Tractor Ballast Calculator - Jointly developed by Clemson University and Michelin Agriculture. Devin Bowling, Martin Crouch, David Graden, Jay Gustafson, Kendall Kirk, Trey McAlhany, Steve Rosen, Aaron Turner, and Jeremy Widenhoefer.
  • VIPR-GS autonomous off-road vehicle. Prakhar Gupta, Mayuresh Bhosale, Ashish Patil, and Yunyi Jia.
  • Development of the Presentation Effectiveness Evaluation Rubric (PEER) in a salinity & controlled environment agriculture (CEA) class. Bohdana Vyshnivska, K. Dale Layfield, Christopher J. Eck, R. Karthikeyan, and Qiong Su.
  • John Deere auto-steer gator. Hunter Massey, Michael Masters, Shelley Lovern, and Rachel Knoblauch.
  • AGM Capstone: Optimizing design and functionality of an automated variable depth soil sampler. Alec Freeman, Kaleb Gambrell, Jake Lynch, and Tripp Matthews. Advisors: Hunter Massey and Kendall Kirk.
  • Probabilistic estimates of drought-induced yield loss in the Southeastern United States. C. Prakash Khedun and Clement D.D. Sohoulande.
  • Clemson University's Restoration Agriculture Farm. Coleman Scroggs and John Mark Lawton.