Recent achievements for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln community were earned by Cameron Adkins, Guillermo R. Balboa, Christine Booth, Jennifer Brhel, Gayoung Choi, Raymond C. Ward, the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design and the UNL Tractor A-Team.
Honors
Christine Booth, lecturer in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, received the Holling Family Early Achievement Faculty Award at the 2026 College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources awards luncheon May 1 in the Nebraska East Union. She received a $3,000 award and recognition for exceptional teaching by an early career faculty member. Booth’s research and teaching interests are based in teaching and learning of synthesis writing, professional development, interdisciplinary writing and learning, curriculum development and assessment, and evidence-based teaching and learning.
The Nebraska Soil Health Coalition selected Jennifer Brhel, Nebraska Extension educator, to receive the inaugural Alan Moeller Pillar Award, and Raymond C. Ward, founder of Ward Laboratories and longtime soil health advocate, to receive the inaugural Ray Ward Legacy Award. Brhel’s and Ward’s work strengthens agricultural resilience by advancing ecologically friendly farming practices and encouraging the voluntary adoption of soil health programs across Nebraska.
The Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design received the Community Partnership Award presented by the Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers of Nebraska in recognition of its collaborations and annual TMFD student expo and teacher expo events. The student expo was created in 2024 as a showcase of hands-on activities for high school family and consumer science students from across Nebraska.
The UNL Tractor A-Team recently won second place overall at the 2026 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers' International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition in Bloomington, Illinois.
Appointments
Cameron Adkins, a senior computer science major at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and U.S. Navy veteran, has been named a 2026 NVLF Leadership Fellow by the National Veterans Leadership Foundation. Adkins recently represented Nebraska at the organization’s national Leadership Forum in Columbus, Ohio. The highly competitive fellowship recognizes exceptional military-connected student leaders from colleges and universities across the nation.
Guillermo R. Balboa, research assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, has been elected as the 2026 vice leader of the Precision Agriculture Systems Community within the Agronomic Production Systems Section of the American Society of Agronomy. Balboa said he is honored to serve in this leadership role and contribute to advancing collaboration and innovation in precision agriculture nationally and internationally.
Gayoung Choi, a doctoral student in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, was selected to receive a Presidential Fellowship for the 2026-27 academic year. Presidential Fellows are awarded to a select group of University of Nebraska graduate students each year on the basis of high scholastic performance and personal accomplishment. The fellowship provides an annual stipend of $24,000 and a tuition waiver, made possible from the Frank and Marie Wheeler and the Reichenbach Fellow funds.
This column is a regular feature of Nebraska Today. Faculty, staff and students can submit achievements to be considered for this column via email to achievements@unl.edu. For more information, call 402-472-8515.
