Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) faculty members and research scholars brought home four first prizes from the 60th Annual Convention of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE).The prizes are for research contributions in water resource management, soil conservation, artificial intelligence (AI) and precision irrigation. The convention was held at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Srinagar, recently.As many as three first prizes were awarded for oral presentations and one came for a poster presentation.Abrar Yousuf, Assistant Professor, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, secured the first prize for his oral presentation under the theme groundwater and watershed hydrology. Co-authored by MJ Singh, Daniel Khanna, MA Bhat and MA Dervash, the research titled ‘Development of a Rainwater Harvesting Suitability Index Using Remote Sensing, GIS and AHP for Sustainable Water Resources Management in Lower Shivalik Region of Punjab, India’ demonstrates how geospatial technologies and multi-criteria decision-making tools can identify suitable rainwater harvesting sites for sustainable water management.Pravin Dahiphale, soil and water engineering scientist, Office of the Director (Farms), won the first prize under the remote sensing and geospatial intelligence category. Co-authored by Manoj Kumar, his paper titled ‘Soil Erosion Assessment Using Google Earth Engine and Geospatial Technology’ highlighted the potential of cloud-based geospatial platforms for soil erosion assessment and improved conservation planning.In the smart irrigation and fertigation category, PhD scholar Ayushi Jha bagged the first prize for her oral presentation. Her paper titled ‘Explainable Artificial Intelligence-Driven Assessment of Irrigation Water Quality Using Agro-Waste-Based Wastewater Treatment’, co-authored by her supervisor and Department of Soil and Water Engineering head Jattvibeil Garg, Nikhil Gladwin Cutting and Rakesh Sharda, explores integrating explainable AI with sustainable wastewater treatment technologies to improve irrigation water quality assessment.PhD scholar Sukhmandeep Kaur Brar secured the first prize in the poster presentation category in the same category. Her research titled ‘Thermal Characterization of Water Stress in Drip-Irrigated Spring Maize for Smart Irrigation’, co-authored by her supervisor principal scientist Samanpreet Kaur, Sukhpreet Singh and Lakshay Kumar, examines the use of thermal indicators to detect crop water stress and improve precision irrigation management.Senior university officials appreciated the researchers’ commitment to scientific excellence and innovation, particularly in developing technology-driven solutions for sustainable agricultural resource management.