The Grainger College of Engineering recognizes excellence by ABE faculty and staff

Research professors.

Each year, the Grainger College of Engineering recognizes a select group of faculty, staff, and students for their achievements and contributions to the college and to the world. We are proud to announce that Anne Marie Boone and Professor Girish Chowdhary belong to this distinguished group.

 Anne Marie Boone is one of the recipients of the 2020 Engineering Council Outstanding Advisor Award. She was nominated by students and was chosen by the Engineering Council’s Advisors List Selection as one of the top 10% of engineering advisors who exemplify excellence and dedication in support of our students’ efforts. Anne Marie has been with the ABE department as the student academic program coordinator since 2008. In her role, she coordinates academic advising and student recruitment for the department.

Professor Girish Chowdhary is one of the recipients of the 2020 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor. Since joining the department in 2016, Chowdhary has established himself as a leader in Robotics and Autonomous Systems in the ABE department, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), and the Grainger College of Engineering. He has established the Distributed Autonomous Systems Laboratory and the Field Robotics Engineering and Sciences Hub (FRESH) in the ABE department. His primary research contributions revolve around embedding advanced control and learning algorithms for high performance field robotics, particularly in the context of agriculture and defense applications. Chowdhary is also the Chief Scientist on the UIUC Autonomous Farm that has been established jointly by ABE and the UIUC Center for Digital Agriculture. Chowdhary co-founded a start-up company, EarthSense, which has provided opportunities for his highly-sought research products to be more widely available for use by the agricultural community.

Congratulations to Anne Marie Boone and Professor Girish Chowdhary! The ABE department is thankful and inspired by both of you for your untiring dedication and commitment to excellence.