2025 YOUNG ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Dr. Senthilkumar Thiruppathi (Dr. Senthil) P. Eng is a Professional Agricultural Engineer. Dr. Senthil obtained his Bachelor of Agricultural Engineering from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, and his M.Sc. (Biosystems Engineering) and Ph.D. (Biosystems Engineering) from the University of Manitoba. Dr. Senthil applied engineering principles in both industry and academic settings. In the last 8 years, all the research projects Dr. Senthil was involved in either occurred entirely in the industry or were validated at the industry level. Dr. Senthil is currently an Assistant Professor at UPEI and has secured the most competitive and prestigious Industry Research Chair position to establish the sustainable food automation program at UPEI. Dr. Senthil also holds an adjunct research scientist position at Lethbridge College. As a distinguished researcher, Dr. Senthil holds a worldwide published patent, authored 37 refereed research papers, 16 book chapters, and presented his work at 50 international and national conferences. Dr. Senthil received numerous awards for his research contributions: CSABE best thesis award, best journal paper award, W.E. Muir scholarship, Edward R. Toporek fellowship, and the most competitive University of Manitoba graduate fellowship and biosystems engineering merit award. Dr. Senthil has been serving as the treasurer of CSABE for the last 3.5 years, and he was a local organizing committee member for the recently concluded CSABE AGM at Lethbridge, AB. Dr. Senthil played a crucial role in securing the sponsorship for the event and put in extra effort to successfully plan and execute the conference. He also served as a judge and moderator for the poster and oral sessions during the CSABE conferences and as a reviewer for the CSABE journal. Dr. Senthil also served as a Biosystems Graduate Student Association president, councillor, and finance committee member, and he conducted numerous membership recruitment events along with the Manitoba regional director. In addition to that, Dr. Senthil was also an adjudicator for the NSERC CGS M 2024 Awards, a member of the Senate Committee on Appeals, a member of the Senate Committee on Curriculum and Course Changes, and a member of the Faculty of Graduate Studies Appeals Committee. Dr. Senthil has served as a member-at-large for the APEGA council for the last two years, and he is trying to bridge the gap between the APEGA and CSABE towards achieving common goals. Dr. Senthil developed new courses as a subject matter expert and delivered courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels by incorporating new active learning techniques as an instructor. he always takes the students to the industries and commercial grain bins, so that students can learn in a real-time environment. He encouraged students to be innovative and ready to take on real-time challenges.