For the Record, June 5, 2026

For the Record provides information about recent professional activities and honors of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent honors and promotions include the following:

Honors

The University's Blue Hens robotics team won the prestigious "Excellence in AI" award at the 2026 Farm Robotics Challenge. Team members competed against 59 four-year universities from the U.S. and around the world, showcasing their skill set in solving real-world agricultural problems. The Blue Hens focused on solving a physically demanding task - harvesting watermelons - by engineering an AI-powered pick-and-place mobile rover with a collaborative robot arm. The technology also included a vision-guided compliant vacuum gripper that could gently lift heavy, delicate watermelons without damaging them. Yin Bao, assistant professor in both plant and soil sciences and mechanical engineering, led the team, and James Adkins, director of the Carvel Research and Education Center, provided insight into the challenges watermelon growers face. Team members included undergraduate students Joseph Farley, Michael Acevedo, Katlego Matsipane, Thomas Nicosia, and Colin Coope as well as graduate students Ashish Reddy Mulaka, Annamalai Muthupalaniappan, Karthikeyan Mohan, Dharun Rajasekaran, Avdhesh Gaur and Ekaterina Hampton.

Promotions

The University of Delaware Police Department has announced the promotions of four of its officers: