UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences recently honored three of its alumni with 2024 Outstanding Alumni Awards.
Vijay Nandula, of Overland Park, Kansas, was this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award, while Shah Chowdhury, of Bangladesh, and Hunter Swisher, of St. Petersburg, Florida, received Outstanding Recent Alumni Awards. The trio was honored at an April 4 reception in State College.
The Outstanding Alumni Award recognizes alumni for their achievements and provides opportunities for recipients to interact with the college’s faculty, students and other alumni.
Nandula received his master’s degree in agronomy from Penn State before earning a doctorate in weed science and plant physiology at Virginia Tech. His career began at Mississippi State University, where he was an assistant research professor at the Delta Research and Extension Center.
Since 2011, Nandula has been with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, first as a research plant physiologist in the Crop Production Systems Research Unit and for the last four years as the national program leader with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, known as NIFA.
Nandula has authored more than 73 peer-reviewed journal articles and has received numerous professional awards. Most recently, he was honored with the 2023 Outstanding Agricultural Scientist Award from the Association of Agricultural Scientists of Indian Origin, a chapter of the American Society of Agronomy.
He also was a member of NIFA’s Nutrition Security Team, which received the 2022 NIFA Director’s Award and the 2022 USDA Research, Education, and Economics Mission Area Award.
Chowdhury graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in community, environment, and development. Before his undergraduate career, he co-founded Footsteps Bangladesh in 2013, which empowers and engages youth volunteers to develop and deliver projects addressing social issues through sustainable solutions in the fields of public health, water and sanitation, and climate action.
Since returning home, Chowdhury has continued to serve as president of Footsteps Bangladesh. He also launched Dreamwater Enterprises Limited, a social enterprise focused on product innovation, entrepreneur development and market building to promote quality drinking water at an affordable price for all.
Chowdhury was recognized with the Diana Award in 2020 and earned a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list for social impact. He also was named a Top 40 Social Entrepreneur by Unilever in 2019 and a Youth Leader by the European Commission.
Swisher, a 2016 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in plant sciences, is the chief executive officer and founder of Phospholutions Inc., the company he started as an undergraduate. The company is focused on removing phosphorous from waterways and keeping it in agricultural fields where it can benefit crops.
After graduation, Swisher and his team worked to build a viable startup, engaging the agricultural technology community and securing investors. Today, Swisher oversees a management team of four executives and leads a company valued at $87 million with 23 employees. He also is the inventor or co-inventor on four patents that have been issued or are pending.
Swisher has been recognized as one of Forbes' "30 Executives Under 30" in social impact, is a three-time selection for the "Foremost Under 40" by Pennsylvania Business Central, and was one of the Top 100 People of Pennsylvania in 2023.