2020 Young Engineer of the Year Award

Dr. Aitazaz Farooque is an Associate Professor & Industry Research Chair – Precision Agriculture at the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island. Based on his student-centered approach to teaching by going above and beyond for students and encouraging students to push the boundaries of their learning, he has been awarded with Dalhousie University Teaching Impact Award 2015. He was also awarded with the Engineers PEI Award for Engineering Excellence 2018 for excellence in the practice of engineering, the teaching of engineering and engineering research. He is also a recipient of the 2019 Presidential Award for Combined Achievement (teaching, research and service) from the University of Prince Edward Island. He is a Professional Engineer and registered in both PEI and Nova Scotia. Dr. Farooque’s research focuses on fundamental understanding and development of state of the art PA technologies for Eastern Canada’s agriculture industry. Development of innovative and novel PA systems utilizes knowledge of engineering design, development and management, instrumentation, design and evaluation of sensors and controllers, development of hardware and software for automation of machines to sense targets in real-time for spot application of agrochemicals on an as-needed basis to improve farm profitability while maintaining environmental sustainability. . Dr. Farooque has developed collaborations nationally and internationally. Dr. Farooque highlighted the significance of his research in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, workshops, industry meetings and farmer’s field days. He is supervising undergraduate and graduate students. He is a Professional Engineer and registered in both PEI and Nova Scotia